RYAN MARTIN
MAGIC KINGDON
interview JORGE PEREZCHICA
So, tell us about yourself and your art.
I am an oil painter who mostly does portraiture now. And I’m currently between projects. I recently painted 38 portraits of model/actor Julian Larach, which were recently exhibited at Mark Wolfe Contemporary Art in San Francisco.
What is your creative process like and where does your inspiration come from? Any major influences?
I typically photograph my model, then use the photographs as reference, painting in the portrait first. As I’m painting in the portrait, I do my best to be open and allow myself to stray from the photo reference. Lastly, I’ll add in other subjects into the portrait, many of which are somewhat arbitrary, and some which come to mind in the moment while I’m painting. Sometimes the surreal elements might be from an article I recently read about a sea creature, or a doodle I did the night before of an orchid. Some of my major influences at the moment are figurative painter Lisa Yuskavage, and also I was recently introduced to Isabella Kirkland. Overall, the most influential has been music, sometimes a simple lyric will change the course of the painting I’m working on.
What do you enjoy about painting and being an artist?
What I enjoy most is moving the paint around on the canvas. I love blending with the fan brush. I really love laying in colors next to each other and seeing how they play off one another.
You grew up in SoCal in the 80’s and 90’s, but live in San Francisco—how have the two impacted you as an artist?
I definitely feel more connected to LA visually, especially color-wise. When my portraits have popping colors, or a vibrant sunny feeling, it is something I attribute to SoCal. I remember lots of color from my childhood, lots of purple, hot pink, neon greens, and magentas. Even the illustrative nature of my paintings I attribute to growing up in Anaheim, just a few blocks away from Disneyland. My sister and I had annual passes growing up, so we frequented the Magic Kingdom often, and I grew up encountering that optimistic, dramatic, and illuminative feeling of such a place, over and over again. I think that sort of feeling sticks with someone as they grow up.
How do you see the current art scene and is there anything you would like to change or see happen in the near future? I would like to see the art scene push further into more of the mass’ conscience. Many art forms such as film, fashion, music, and the culinary arts have made their way into the mass’ homes via television. It would be nice to be able to relate to the majority in a way, and have them educated in visual arts in a similar way we have become acquainted better with music, cooking, and fashion, and kept up to speed in these genres. As far as contemporary art, it has left the general public behind. Maybe that is part of the appeal, the exclusiveness of art. But I hope to be an inclusive artist.
Has social media had an impact on your approach to art?
In the last year it has. I started getting comments and messages from people around the world and they shared with me what my painting says to them, or what it reminds them of. A lot of times their experiences tip off a new idea for a painting. It has opened up dialogue between people I would have otherwise never been able to hear or learn from.
Your work can be described as surreal and narrative — do you plan on creating images for books or animation or do you prefer to work with paintings on canvas?
I would definitely be open to creating an animation or a book of sequential imagery sometime.
What do you wish the viewer to come away with?
I hope it brings a story to their mind; having them imagine what the person in the portrait is thinking, or making up a story to what is happening in the scene.
What are your currently working on?
I’m currently working on a series of drawings, ink on paper. Subjects of the drawings include more classical themes such as “Adoration of the Magi” or “Birth of Venus,” but of course with a Ryan Martin twist.
INSTAGRAM: @RYANMARTINART
WEB: RYANMARTINART.COM