John Martin

(Hardback)

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Fish become knives, alligators become saws, the artist himself becomes a Nokia phone - John Martin is one of the most fascinating contemporary Black American artists working today. The publication builds an understanding of and appreciation for his unique visual language and work outside of the arts and disability communities.

John Martin was born in 1963 in Marks, Mississippi and lives and works in Oakland, California at Creative Growth Art Center. Martin creates drawings, ceramics, and woodwork that synthesize his memories of a family farm in Mississippi with his modern life in Oakland. Martin commonly depicts images of items from his collection of found objects. His interpretations both describe their function and subvert practicality through his outrageous animal mash-ups, oversized Leatherman tools, and mysterious text. His wry sense of humor is evident in all of his compositions, translating utilitarian imagery into a graphic and animated aesthetic.

Author Bio

Ginger Shulick Porcella is the Executive Director of Creative Growth Art Center, the premier organization for contemporary artists with developmental disabilities. She has curated critically acclaimed museum exhibitions such as: Amir H. Fallah: Scatter my Ashes on Foreign Lands; Blessed Be: Mysticism, Spirituality and the Occult in Contemporary Art; and Dazzled: OMD, Memphis Design and Beyond. She is the founder of 4Ground: Midwest Land Art Biennial and her exhibitions have been positively reviewed in Frieze, The New York Times, and Hyperallergic.

Philip March Jones is an artist, writer, and curator based in New York City. In 2009, Jones founded Institute 193, a nonprofit contemporary art space and publisher in Lexington, Kentucky. He later served as the inaugural director of the Souls Grown Deep Foundation in Atlanta, and as director of the Galerie Christian Berst (New York/Paris) and the Andrew Edlin Gallery in New York. Jones' photographs and writings have been published by the Jargon Society, Vanderbilt University Press, Dust-to-Digital and Poem 88, among others.

Cheryl Dunn is an American documentary filmmaker and photographer. She has made two feature films, Everybody Street (2013) and Moments Like This Never Last (2020). She has had three books of photographs published: Bicycle Gangs of New York (2005), Some Kinda Vocation (2007) and Festivals are Good (2015). Dunn's work has been exhibited at Tate Modern in London, Deitch Projects in New York City, and the Geffen Contemporary MOCA. She was one of the subjects in the documentary, book, and traveling museum exhibition Beautiful Losers.