Contemporary Art in Context: Shantell Martin

Exploring Who We Are
Growing up in a predominantly white community in London, Martin used drawing as a way of self-expression and exploration. She drew characters on her curtains and under her bed, developing the simplified figures that appear in her work to this day. When she moved to New York in 2008, she began to develop her signature black-and-white style, writing Who Are You? on her bedroom door in bold black ink. She ultimately rephrased this to Are You You?, a question that appears in many of her works.

Martin draws lines as symbolic paths for people to follow, exploring insistent texts that challenge viewers to discover who they are. The effect of such immersive installations as The May Room, in the former chapel on Governers Island, Manhattan, encourages people to contemplate their place in the world in a space that was once used for faith services and quiet reflection. Her painting also covers the exterior of the chapel.

Martin’s text Kindness Is a Better Way Forward was rendered in neon and installed in the Whitney Museum Shop. Paintings she created for the Boston Ballet, KITES (2022), celebrate the ChoreograpHER Initiative, a program meant to give female dance students and professional dancers an opportunity to develop choreographic skills.

Art History: Self-Expression
For millennia, artists have created works that reflect their personal experiences. Following the race and gender revolutions of the late 1900s in Western art, many artists began to explore their identities through art. Today, many contemporary artists create work about their personal experiences, gender identity, race, faith, and family.

About the Artist
Martin was born in 1980 in southeast London. She studied at Camberwell College of Arts and graduated from Central Saint Martin’s College of Art and Design in 2003. She developed her drawing skills further while living in Japan where she projected live drawings that accompanied music performances. She moved to New York in 2008 and her first solo show, Are You You was held at the Museum of Contemporary African Diasporan Arts in Brooklyn. She has designed large-scale drawings for the Lincoln Center and collaborated with iconic clothing brands such as Puma and Nike.

ARTIST Q&A
What are some of the biggest influences on your work, including other artists, events, or things outside of the arts?
Shantell Martin: I would answer that by saying itʼs interesting being an artist. Since everyone asks about what or who inspires you... I personally believe that we have so much inside of us that can inspire our outputs. And to activate this, we can attempt to eat better, drink better, get better sleep, etc. The result is that you can inspire yourself to do what you love, and often the best inspiration comes from within.

Do you have specific strategies, rituals, or routines that help you work and/or generate ideas?
SM: I like to begin with a tranquil, clean, and tidy space if Iʼm working at home or in my studio. If Iʼm out working on a mural or installation, I like to walk around the space to try and be present and immerse myself in my surroundings. Then I like to play music; I often make a play- list (spoti.fi/3dRUTSc) for particular projects. I try to find music that speaks to the work and what Iʼm creating.

Tell us about one of the biggest moments in your career.
SM: One of the biggest moments was definitely sitting in the audience of the world premiere of my ballet KITES which I choreographed for the Boston Ballet. The event took place at the Boston Opera House. To be in the audience experiencing something I created along with the dancers and everyone else—the only word I have to describe that moment is surreal.

What kind of advice can you offer teachers to help their students successfully create art in an intuitive, open-ended way? How would you set the stage?
SM: I would encourage students to look in versus out. More exercises that are self-reflective, drawing blindfolded, with music, collaborative... creating in ways that are more emotional versus recreating or imitating someone else.

While meditating on imagery for your installations based on interviews and research, do you create spontaneously or methodically with sketches and studies?
SM: I donʼt create sketches or studies but more so, I take time to think, consider, and educate myself before I create something.

DISCUSSION
Introduce students to Shantell Martin’s work, along with other artists who use text in their work such as Jean-Michel Basquiat, Barbara Kruger, Jenny Holzer, Glenn Ligon, and Sneha Shrestha (aka IMAGINE). Discuss how the relationship between text and image might emphasize or change the meaning of the words or phrases used by the artists.

Discuss how Martin’s work centers on her philosophical approach to exploring identity and well-being. Ask, “How might an artwork inspire viewers to change their lives in a positive direction?” After some discussion, ask students to consider what phrases, words, or mottos are important to them or their family members. How could one of those phrases be used in an artwork?

STUDIO EXPERIENCES

Create a drawing that fills a piece of paper using simple lines, shapes, and text.
Create a series of automatic drawings without a preconceived idea of what the finished product might be. Start with simple shapes or lines and let things evolve from there without questioning, critiquing, or second-guessing yourself—just draw and see where it takes you. You may want to set an alarm for five, ten, or fifteen minutes and draw until it goes off.
Choose an inspirational phrase, word, or short sentence that gives you hope. You can use something that already exists or create a new phrase.
(A)Create a large drawing that includes your phrase.
(B) Use your phrase as the inspiration for a work of art in the media of your choice. What materials or medium might best express your phrase? Does it need to reappear in the artwork? If not, what ideas or techniques will you use to share the phrase with your viewers?

Drawing a Philosophy