THROUGH 3D ART, POLISH ADAM MARTINAKIS HAS ACCESS TO A FLOOD OF ARTISTIC TOOLS, ENTAILING A COMBINATION OF MULTIPLE ARTISTIC DISCIPLINES.
MARIE BERTELSEN | ARTICULATE #20 | JULY 2019 Through 3D art, Adam Martinakis has access to a flood of artistic tools, entailing a combination of multiple artistic disciplines. First glance at the Polish-Greek artist Adam Martinakis’ (b. 1972) art is like delving into a fantasy world. What appears seems inspired by an alternative reality and somewhat sci-fi. This goes hand in hand with his perception and process of developing artistic ideas, which he calls a mystery. The ideas are both chosen by him and sometimes the ideas choose him. This is something he enjoys being a part of since it means there is something to be told, unfolded, and something to be experimented with. The 3D art of humans themselves appears primal; one might even say stripped down to its basics. Some of the art seems like having an essence of something from an ancient civilization. Some of this inspiration comes from working and living the last two years on the island of Crete in Greece. He finds the place beautiful and full of traces from previous civilizations and this has an enormous impact on his psychology and drive for creating artworks. The intention of Martinakis is to make timeless art. In his words, this aim is always in the back of his mind and incorporated in his final expression.
The way he creates art can be said to be advanced and far from easy to execute. Through 3D art, he has access to a flood of artistic tools. It entails a combination of multiple artistic disciplines such as sculpting, photography, moving images (video–animation) and painting. He describes it as a lot of genres coming into one. For Martinakis it has taken two decades of training and occupation to perfect this and have confidence in using the media. But what the media gives is both speed and a choice between numerous expressions. Counterintuitive this brings Martinakis back to the essence of communication. Because of the speed and myriad of tools, it becomes an intuitive approach. He explains it as his nature finding the best and most accurate path. |
The mental working with art is something Martinakis is generally focused on. He describes his work as both philosophical and targeting our perception. Concretely, he tries to imagine art which is not tied down to a specific time or place. Instead of this, he tries to find the existence of something or existence in itself. By having thought experiments about how we can evolve as humans and imagining where we want to belong in the world, he can make art with philosophy behind it. This he also explains as an effort to create artwork which is universal.
Another thing which comes to mind is the interaction between the subjects in his art. You see humans intertwined, sometimes female or male, other times genderless beings, embracing each other, leaning against or grasping each other’s bodies. Martinakis plays with the texture and the media of art. Emphasized by the unfinished objects, we have to use our minds and put the pieces together. |
In other words, the incompleteness gives us the chance to create our own idea about the finished lines and pictures. The art seems rich in every way. Rich in material, rich in expression, in emotion, and more than anything rich in details. The colors are monochromatic and human. For the composition, Martinakis states that every element has its own reason to be in the artwork. And though he does not claim to have the answer or a full understanding of this, the same goes for happenings in our life. The shapes, colors, textures, atmosphere, chosen camera and point of view all have a reason to be in his art. They are all essential. If something goes wrong, which it may, the whole work comes out having a feeling of being unfinished.
The one to inspire Martinakis and draw him into the world of art is the Swiss artist Paul Klee (1879-1940). Although there are other artists who have inspired him and his work, the biggest one has always been Klee. In his words, Klee’s art operates in a more subconscious way, which was part of the reason Martinakis was motivated to become an artist. Now Martinakis describes his profession as not just an artist, but a way of living. He sees the life of an artist as working in every moment, even when sleeping. This article about ADAM MARTINAKIS takes part of ARTICULATE #20. Read, download or order your print version of the full publication below
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