Hendricks Gin Interview

Hendricks published an interview on their blog with me to coincide with the box give-away.  You can read the transcript below or check it out here: The Unusual Times


"A Conversation With Sara Antoinette Martin"
 Posted March 8th
http://unusualtimes.net

You’re far more than a painter. Your portfolio spans tattooing, toy making and clothing design. What is your favorite medium?
I’m really excited about tattooing.  I’ve only tattooed myself so far, but i think that once I really get going, its going to be one of my favorite mediums. Other then that, painting is definitely my favorite medium.  Its the least restrictive, creatively.
What made you jump into tattooing?
Tattooing was something that I had always thought about, but didn’t feel confident enough in my drawing until the past few years.  In hindsight, I realized how dumb that was to wait this long.  Anyway, right out of school, I got a job at Kidrobot as a product photographer.  Three years later I quit to try and be a full time illustrator.  A month later the recession happened and I started working for the artist Tara McPherson and picking up some freelance graphic disease.  I was finding it really difficult  to make a living as an illustrator and I was getting way more of a response from my fine art paintings.  I needed to figure out something that I could do while still pursuing fine art.  My artwork was already heavily influenced by tattoo are and I felt like both mediums would enhance and relate to each other.  It took me about a year to find an apprenticeship after I had made the decision to do it.

Your work incorporates a variety of cultural influence—lotus flowers, chupacabras, mermaids. Where do you draw this imagery from?
Everywhere.  Especially decorative and folk arts.  I think its really interesting how an outsider artist, such as Henry Darger, or early civilization artwork, like byzantine religious icons and illuminated manuscripts, interpreted the world and rendered the human form.
I’ve always had a love for cryptozoology and monsters.  There is so much weird and mysterious stuff out there in the world.  I’m also really interested in patterns found in nature, the golden ratio and the natural order and engineering of the world.  How jellyfish and coral are made of individual cellular organisms and the mathematical patterns in flowers, and, really, every living thing.
It all comes down to the almost spirituality  you can find in mathematics of the physical world.  I’m really fascinated with the old alchemists and how they turned chemistry, physics and astrology into a subversive and occult philosophy.  Its been science vs organized religion since the beginning of time.  I like to draw my own theories and reflection on my environment with out being so scientific about it.  Essentially, its what I love about painting.  I can illustrate the world as it exists in my head without being literal or factual about it.  I think of it as ’science fiction theory’.

How did you come up with your idea for your Hendrick’s box?
I was really into drawing gypsies that week.

Do you consider yourself a curious artist? And how does it effect your work?
Definitely.  I love learning new things and collecting new influences.

Is there particular subject matter that fascinates you?
Anything occult!

If you weren’t an artist what vocation would you pursue?
I honestly do not think I could not exist if I wasn’t doing something creative.  If this whole art thing didn’t work out, my plan C was to maybe get a grad degree in industrial design.  My dad would of loved that.

You’re really invested in the process of creating your work. Tell us about it.
I start with a sketch.  Sometimes I’ll get people to pose for me and take reference photos.  I scan in a finished drawing and break apart the layers that I will paint separately.  I transfer the drawing usually with xerox transfers. Then I paint the composition in separate parts on paper and collage them back together, essentially breaking down the composition and building it back up again.  I add patterns and embellishment and seal the whole thing in layers of glossy varnish.

And last but by no means least, what’s your favorite cocktail?
Hendricks Gin martini with a twist!

Inked Magazine

I was in the April issue of Inked Magazine!

Welcome to Sara Land
By Lisa Freedman
Inked Magazine, April Issue 2010
Photograph by SASPHOTOS

Sara Antoinette Martin's art is so hard to categorize that she'd rather not even try. "I'd hyst tell them to Google me," the Brooklyn artist says when aske to explain her style to someone who's never seen it. The trusty search engine didn't clarify things. " Her work is a conversation of emotions and reflections of how she sees herself in this world and how the world sees her," her site, sara-land.net explains. She creates each element - usually stemming from religious icons, alchemical symbols, imaginary sea creatures, and more - individually and then regroups them to form a wacky-slash-creepy collage. " I view myself as a filter," she says. "I take all my influences, filter them through myself, and spit them back out as a mishmash of symbols to illustrate complete emotions."

When it comes to her owns tattoos, though, she doesn't like to be the one doing the creating. Her biggest tattoo, a thigh piece by Eli Quiters of Smith Street Tattoo in Brooklyn, portrays a giant squide battling a whale on a pirate shop under a thunderstorm. She says she usually brings him an idea or a basic sketch and lets him run with the theme rater than replicate her work. "I'd get tired of looking at my own stuff every day. Or get mad at myself that I didn't do a better job."

While her work has been featured everywhere from Kidrobot to Chumby (the adorable Wi-Fi device), Martin is still trying to figure out her next move. She left her photography gig at Kidrobot in July of 2008 when she had a slew of toy designs coming out - then the recession he. Although she works part-time as an artist assistant for Tara McPherson and is getting into textile design as a way to make money, she really wants to focus on fine art. "I need to figure out how I'm gonna survive being as artist.: (Note to readers: Got to http://store.skelecore.com and buy a thing or three!) Another gig she had entertained: learning how to tattoo.

"I think I'd be good at it," she says, "though after talking to people I realize it's a whole other universe of art making." For now, her goal is to work as an apprentice or a shop girl to get more exposure. She acknowledges it'll be at least a few years of hard work - but he, at least she already knows how to draw.

20/10 Vision opening

Photos courtesy of Gallery Hanahou's photo stream

The opening for 20/10 Vision was PACKED for the entire opening! Lots of great art on the walls and I got to catch up with some friends I haven't seen in a while. I participated in the live drawing (photos below) which is still up for auction! 100% of the money raised from the collaborative drawing will be donated to the relief effort in Haiti. So get bidding!

20/10 Vision will be up until February 19th. Portions of all sales go to the relief effort in Haiti, plus you can still bid on the collaborative drawing.
More info about the drawing here: CWC Blog
All of the artwork is up for sale up here: Gallery Hanahou
Check out pictures from the opening here: Gallery Hanahou Flickr

And here is my piece for the show!

Photos from the Playful Extremities Opening!

Playful Extremities opened last week! It was pretty amazing.

You can check out a slide show of the opening on Giant Robot here.
I have some photos posted up on my flickr!

The show is up until February 3rd. You can view and purchase available artwork on Giant Robot right here!

Illustration Now! 3

I have two double page spreads in Taschen's Illustration Now! 3 Pretty awesome! Also in this edition is my former roommate Ilana Kohn. Congrats Ilana!

The latest volume Illustration Now! presents a completely new selection of 150 illustrators from around the world. A fascinating mix of established master draftsmen and neophytes, working in a vast range of techniques, Illustration Now! Vol. 3 features illustrators from 30 countries, with information about their careers, and lists of selected exhibitions. Also included is an introduction by specialist Steven Heller on current trends in the field.

More Info: Taschen

New interview in my hat!

I have an interview in number 61 of Tattoo Life, an Italian tattoo magazine. It's my very first interview in print! And check out THAT on the cover!

Scroll down to read the transcribed interview. I'm especially a fan of the first paragraph... Better scans coming soon...

Who's Who: Sara Antoinette Martin
By Margherita Baleni

Welcome aboard: Sara's imaginary is ready to fly!

An eclectic american artist, versatile and with thousands of artistic sides, Sara Antoinette loves to play with her imaginary, botanical illustrations, religious icons and alchemic symbols all end up in her hat. You want to see what comes out! Flip through these pages and you will be conquered by her fun and original creations on canvas... but not only.

Your influences range from pop to rock, to tattoos, and what else?
I take a lot of influence from folk art (especially mexican folk art), Byzantine icons, and most recently Dutch paintings from the Renaissance. I love botanical illustrations. I'm also really into "symbols" - elements used by the free masons, old alchemy and occult images, and anything else I think look interesting. I like to mix them up and see what comes out. I almost never use a symbol in its traditional form so it takes on a different meaning.

How do you create your works? Do you think pictorial 'collage' is the right definition?
Yeah most people don't realize it , but my work is actually collage. When I start a new paintings, I will make a finished sketch, scan it into the computer and break apart the elements that I want to paint separately. Then I transfer it to Strathmore 500 paper and paint all the elements separately. I will collage it all back together on a piece of wooden panel and add all the patterns and other embellishments.

Has tattoo art had must influence on your work?
Yes. I really love the look of traditional tattoo art. The way the designs are super flat and graphic. Sometimes I even reference the art on my skin to see how something is rendered!

And do you have any tattoos?
Yes I have a few on my arms and chest. I have a big one that covers most of my thigh done by Eli Quinters. Its a squid versus a whale under a ship in a thunderstorm. Epic.

Has your style always been like this, or has it gone through an aesthetic or conceptual development?
I am always pushing myself to get better at painting and drawing. I've found myself rendering things more realistically with each painting and I get better at line work with each drawing.

How important is femininity to you and how much does it appear in your work?
Femininity is very important. All of my paintings have an element of femininity, I am a girl after all... I see a lot of female artists today over sexualize childlike waifs and call them empowered with expressing sexuality. I want to paint my ladies with ugly humanity and make it pretty. They are the survivors within us, bearing themselves to the world and sharing their vulnerability.

You have already participated at various artistic and editorial projects. Which were the most important?
They are all important. I try to make each project count, taking one step further until I 'make it'. One of the most importatn would probably be the Chupacabra toy I made with Kidrobot.

Can you describe your picture apathy? Can you describe its symbolic aspects?
My paintings are ment to be open for interpretation. I like to mix up symbols to create new meaning and illustrate and emotion. Sometime I just have 'leftovers' and I'll put them together for purely aestetic reasons. Apathy is proudly indifferent. Keep watch and feel nothing.  Detachment is the key to happiness.

Would you like to add anything else for our readers?
I'm in a big deal group show coming up at the Last Rites Gallery in NYC called New Breed, which I am pretty excited about. It you like my work, please find me on the internet! I have plenty of prints available in my webstore.

Interview in Format Mag

Format just posted an awesome interview I did for them.
Thanks Jesse!

Check out the interview here: Format

Kidrobot's Meet the Artist video

Come Meet the Artists at Kidrobot NY from Kidrobot on Vimeo.

Kidrobot just posted a video from their NYCC event, Meet the Artists, at the NY store. I'm in it here and there.

Goldfish Chumbys are available!

Goldfish Chumby is now up for sale on the Chumby website! You can snag one right here for $599. Its very reasonable for a hand painted Chumby!

If you already have a chumby, you can load it up with my very own widget, "Beastcast". You can find it under the lifestyle category or click right here!

Fresh Produce Pictures

Photo courtesy of ©Anno Domini gallery, 2008
Fresh Produce opened last week! There are lots of pictures up on flickr here and here. It looks like there was a good turnout! I really like Ryan Bubnis's square head paintings.

They have put most of the works up for sale on-line. Maybe you'll find some last minute holiday gifts!

Colorink issue 1 out now!

I just got my copy of the Color Ink Book. Its a coloring book featuring lots-o-underground artists and its only 10 bucks! You can check it out here.
I posted the drawings I did for it back here.

Google loves me

!!!
So I guess I've been googled enough to get a little reconized pop up thing. Pretty awesome! Also, while googling myself, it was revealed to me that my power animal is the Hawaiian Monk Seal..

Pictures from Divine Lotteria

You can check out pictures and see the whole show right here on my Flickr account. The show is open through the weekend. I will also be in the studio tonite, wednsday thursday from about 7-9 if anyone wants to come by.

Kidrobot Store Re-Opening

Kidrobot NYC Grand Opening Artist Interviews - 5/1/08 from Kidrobot on Vimeo.

Here's me talking about my Munny at the Kidrobot NY Store Re-Opening. I'm right in the begining. You can check out more video footage of the store re-opening here!

Downright revisited

Nice little write up in Whitehot magazine about Jashar and the 'Downright' show I was in back in November.
They mentioned me! "Martin’s “Downright Dispicable” (acrylic on wood) offers another striking visual experience. The object of the panel is commanding while her floating body-less companions pleasantly adorn the piece like a soft buttercream." Buttercream huh?

Check it out here: http://whitehotmagazine.com/whitehot_articles.cfm?id=1140

Interview on Chief Magazine

(photo by victoria jacobs)

Chief Magazine did a really great interview on me. Check it out here

HOLY CRAP I NOW HAVE A WEBSTORE

You can buy my zines and pin packs! At the end of the week i will unveil the Peter Gatien Dunny! Prints are coming soon!
WOW WOW http://store.skelecore.com WOW WOW

Ourartsite.com!

Ourartsite.com interviewed me. It just posted! Read about how i like draw guts and other stuff here
While your there, check out the site. Its pretty neat. I made a profile and I think they are trying to be like an art-myspace.

The Debatable Beasts in Sweden

I was interviewed for an article in the swedish newspaper, Expressen. They used a picture of my Little Zerster munny. Its pretty cool but i can't read it! I think they wrote a whole 2 paragraphs on me. You can check it out here

Best Monday there ever was...

On new years i made a resolution to update this blog atleast once a week, but it seems i'm keeping my gym resolution better then my blogging resolution. WACKY! So I'm going to post like 3 posts tonite to catch up.

First! and this is a super big deal. I was mentioned in the NY Times Book review in Kidrobot's "I Am Plastic" review! You can read the article here! I Am Plastic is the book Kidrobot put out of all the vinyl toys out there today. My Debatable Beasts are in there. You can check out the book at www.kidrobot.com.