Today we’d like to introduce you to Luis Martin.
Alright, thank you for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us how you got started?
“I make collages; my work stems from a deeply creative and spiritual inquiry, which plays out through my conversation with my hands and paper. I created the term “The Art Engineer” for my thesis project in art school, which granted me creative license to unapologetically explore my role as an artist from a place of agency and leadership that extends from the studio outward. My small works on paper are amplified by my robust studio practice that takes a multi-disciplinary approach. I combine the themes at the center of my visual work with other projects, including a podcast and a live studio session series on social media.
As a child, my grandmother worked at a posh convalescent home in Mar Vista, California. She would come home with discarded fashion magazines from around the world. She clipped images of glamorous women, beautiful men, and exotic places and taped them to the wall in our studio apartment. It was her template for a life she wanted to experience. I soon followed suit, but when I looked for images that resembled my grandmother and me and did not find any, I resolved to tear my images and began to collage compositions that reflected our colors and textures. This creative practice gave me a vehicle to create a positive self-image and place myself in the center of the world of my making.
I’m sure you wouldn’t say it’s been obstacle-free, but so far would you say the journey has been smooth?
Growing up, it becomes easy to collect labels, labels of limitations that can weigh you down. It was made aware to me that I carried a lot of labels I was not aware of as a kid. I was chunky, effeminate, and dyslexic, and on top of that, I was in the center of Los Angeles in the 90s during race riots, earthquakes, and family dramas. I learned quickly that these labels are points of departure to thrive. Through art and collage, I learn that, more often than not, I have all the material to lift myself.
Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I am a collage artist. Collage is the most democratic art practice! You do not need a degree or talent; you only require curiosity and an openness to adventure. I cut, tear, and juxtapose images that move me. By appropriating and repurposing them together, I give voice to narratives that might have no other way of playing out. Collage is a low-risk and high-reward activity.
I am most proud of the community that collage has allowed me to grow during the onset of the pandemic. I felt a need to show up and share the processes that always feed my so much optimism. I began to create videos of myself collaging and sharing my process, not so much as an instructor but as a guide into a safe space to be creative. I soon created collage kits to send to my community, and thus Collage Dream was born. Collage Dream is a hug where the #artfam can pick up some collage material, see what other artists are doing through our podcast, member’s features, and even take a class. The only competition here is who has the most fun with their work! Seeing artists worldwide connect and collaborate through Collage Dream fills me with so much purpose and joy.
What was you like growing up?
I was born an old man. I had to grow up fast because of my family dynamics. I live between my mother’s, father’s, and grandmother’s houses. There were a lot of hands in the kitchen but no real recipe, so I had a lot of freedom to follow my interests and intuition. In middle school, I started skipping school and hanging out at the LA Central Library and the lobbies of fancy Hotels in the area. In these liminal places, I could disappear while filling myself with so much beauty from books and architecture. Observing and absorbing these spaces gave a sense of belonging in a world that might not have been accessible to me.
Pricing:
- $30 Membership to Collage Kit
- $10 Digital Membership
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.collagedream.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/artengineer/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCI9E4A7WEg3Dpe9FQJ_QP9g
