Kenny Martin b. 1974

Welcome

When you’ve carried a camera around with you for as long as I have you generate a photographic archive.

I am passionate about exploring ideas and creating art in collaboration with nature, where I take much inspiration.

The reason I create art is to feel present in the here and now.

Through this website I share stories and my inspiration which helps place the artwork with the right collectors who get it.

Inspired by Wild Camping

Here I am photographing large and medium format simultaneously at night whilst wild camping on the Isle of Skye in Western Scotland.

For me inspiration comes easy on Skye and the remote Hebridean islands. I photographed a beautiful oak tree lit with candles till past 5.30am in the morning waiting for the light to sit just right. The midges were terrible and I wore a mosquito head net for much of the night.

Being patient and persevering I was rewarded with “Peacetime: An Oak Tree with Candles”. I am happy with the mood that I managed to capture and the red lens bloom around the candles.

Art Practice

Here I am photographing the setting sun melting into the ocean while staying at The Lookout Bothy – the old coastguard hut – on the northern tip of the Isle of Skye in Scotland.

Practising art and photography helps to sustain me as a person living my life. Capturing the feeling of being there in the moment.

That’s what art is to me; a sustenance, a nourishing activity.

My art practise gives me something special that I cannot find anywhere else in life.

I love working with the camera, respecting and connecting with nature.

Inspired by Trees, Campfires and Time

Here I am making a piece of art entitled “Peacetime: An Oak Tree Rubbed” in Rockingham, England. A unique performance drawing / rubbing of an oak tree featuring my ‘yoga clock’ motif.

The idea was to honour the trees and be thankful for them dropping their firewood which became the source of my campfires and fire brushes.

This clock without hands or numbers; without any moving parts suggests a letting go of time, a still point or place outside of time; which, I strongly believe is a good headspace to make art from.

The ‘yoga clock’ motif is symbolic and represents creative freedom. It was a natural choice for the logo for Kenny Martin Art.

My First Art Sales

I first sold original artwork at my solo exhibition of New Blue Work at The Myrioscope Gallery in Brighton way back in 1997.

This body of conceptual work was concerned with blurring the division between painting and sculpture, displaying the canvas off the wall; extending the language of painting out into the gallery space. I was rewarded for my efforts as before the title bars went up two pieces were sold to a local collector! He loved the pieces and had to have them. It was my first artist – collector conversation that resulted in a mutually happy art sale.

One of the pieces Lloyd bought was entitled “Greedy Bastard”. It consisted of a cobalt blue painted, custom shaped canvas that I made with a bite taken out of the stretcher. This was contrasted with 16 home baked Crispie Flakemeal Biscuits – an old family recipe of my grandmothers.

I have since sold hundreds of prints online and shipped them all over the world to collectors in Scotland, England, France, Spain, Germany, Finland, Greece, Australia, USA, Japan and Hong Kong.

Beyond the Art DJ Kenny

There have been many chapters to my creative life.

Music has and always will be one of them.

I still enjoy playing my funk, soul, disco and dance vinyl at home and in the studio. A few times I have played at summer parties at the local bar in the next village of Galan through my vintage 1970’s hifi sound system.

Just as I did during my years involved with art events and DJ nights in London and Brighton with the Journeyman Project.

Spinning the tunes is a social way of sharing energy, atmosphere and a sense of being present.

I see connections between playing vinyl and tending a campfire. Each record is like a piece of kindling – you have to keep the fire going.

Art Previews

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