"Collage is the strongest vehicle to arrive at my truth. I have no pretense about making "good" art. Cutting paper and creating something new keeps me in the present because the material is ephemeral and tactile- just like life. I want to live like I collage, with my intuition at the wheel and constantly bringing things new things together in harmony."
LM
ON GOING SERIES
PAPER ROOTS
This is an on-going collage series that began after my visit to Mexico in 2021. In part an escape from the US, and need to feel surrounded by familiar places and friendly faces even though I knew no one and I had never been there. I wanted to sit in the parks where my grandmother strolled. I wanted to walk by the house my father and aunt lived in the first years of their lives. Like a scientist or anthropologist, I allowed myself to take in everything fully, but promised myself not to touch, interrupt or question the order of things.
These collages are love letters to my Mexican heritage and the Latinx diaspora. The works of art are the field notes and stories of how my roots do not allow me to just sit and watch with my arms crossed. Instead, they compel me and fill me with purpose to go beyond nostalgia and contribute to a world in dire need of love and light. These paper roots that I have found now form a vital part in everything I do, have done and will ever do.
IN THE STUDIO
Join me in the studio. I collage in real time and have a conversation with my hands and allow stories to emerge as each collage comes together.
COLLAGE AS A GIFT
Collage was a gift from my grandmother. In the tossed magazines she found at her janitorial job, she offered me an invitation into a vivid world. Tearing paper and putting it together with new meaning, personal context and making a collage as art is a revolution and an act of willful optimism. Collaging has taught me to see potential in the discarded, value in simple acts of creativity and most of all it has given me the gift to contextualize the world around me in my voice from a place of power.
- Luis Martin
HAPPY HOUR
mostly every thursday on instagram @artengineer 7pm EST
Drop in and say hello while I play with paper, hangout with the cameraman and chat with you. There is always music and sometimes AMAZING mail from friends!
I collages as a democratic act of radical optimism to explore my identity and create a narrative from a place of power.
Through art I give myself the role of protagonist and construct context for my American, Queer + Latinx experience.
At the core of my creative practice I use my work to initiate meaningful conversations and create opportunities to create in community.
ABOUT
Luis Martin / The Art Engineer
Artist's Statement
Collage is my vehicle to explore and understand the world around me from a place of power, curiosity, and agency. Unlike any other art form, collage is a democratic practice with low risks and high rewards. It allows me to make connections between the visual language of popular culture and historical context to arrive at my truth, without the weight of an imposed narrative. As an artist I get to write my own story in my own syntax as the protagonist.
Biography
Born in Los Angeles, and based in New York city, Luis Martin began his journey in the art museums of LA where he worked as a teen. Moving to NYC at the age of 19, he continued to work at cultural institutions before attending art school.
His artistic career flourished through self-initiated projects that aimed to create visibility and access to his art practice and that of other artists. He has exhibited nationally and internally around the world. Most recently in Merida, Mexico where he had a solo show of collages created during his stay.
COMMUNITY
ART AS PRACTICE
ART AS BUSINESS
Join me and the #ArtFam on this Collage Dream adventure!
As an artist it is not enough to make art, I want to share the power collage and art in general has given me. You are invited to join Collage Dream, a community or artist the span the globe centered around collage. Become a member, but a one of a kind collage kit, or just hand out in the virtual studio via a video!
Turn your creative practice into a studio business. Learn to thrive as an
art entrepreneur from a place of power and authenticity. Come learn how to move passed the hangups that can block your journey when you do not fit into the art world system. Let me share the steps I have learned along the way on how to create success on your own terms. Let’s make something of all your potential.
