Nov. / Dec. 2022 AIR: Jordan Martins
We are excited to share the work of our November/December Artist in Residence - Jordan Martins
Learn more about their practice and how Gestalt psychology influences their practice.
Q & A
Q: HELLO! WELCOME TO LATITUDE. SO EXCITED TO BE WORKING WITH YOU. CAN YOU EXPLAIN THE LOOPING PROCESSES THAT YOU USE IN YOUR IMAGES? THE IMAGES LOOK LIKE THEY COULD DRIP RIGHT OFF THE PAGE.
The cornerstone of my practice right now is my ongoing “Phenotypes” series (2016–). These typically begin with still life set ups involving some found objects as well as some improvised sculptural forms I throw together and arrange. I then print out these photos, paint on them, cut them up and form ephemeral collages with them on a scanner bed. As the scanning is happening, I move the pieces around to shift, distort, and combine the forms in different ways. I’ll usually rescan the same pieces multiple times to create “families” of images made with the same source images but distorted differently through the process.
Each of these final images eventually becomes a single edition print. Beyond that, I also print them onto canvas as a starting point for a painting, and also include fragments of them in more traditional collage work cutting and pasting images that pile up in my studio.
Q: I LOVE THE COLORS IN YOUR IMAGES. HOW DO YOU DECIDE WHAT COLORS TO USE? ARE THEY RANDOM?
not quite random, but not fully determined! I’m generally interested in a particular kind of color dynamic rather than a specific hue variation in and of itself. I’m fascinated by how bold colors and patterns in nature can be used to signal different things–warnings, attractions, mating rituals, etc–and how visual experience is so woven into relationships within an environment. So a lot of my work is playing with a similar dynamic, with bold colors jumping off of more muted ones.
Q: CAN YOU TALK MORE ABOUT GESTALT PSYCHOLOGY AND HOW IT INFLUENCES YOUR PRACTICE?
Gestalt psychology as a field emerged essentially as an attempt to understand the conditions and factors of visual perception. It starts from the premise that visual perception is not a neutral “window” onto an outside world, but that all visual perception is directed and actually instinctually trying to find a form. What we consider to be “normal” perception is actually a highly structured ongoing hallucination whereby certain information is filtered out to reduce things down, certain short hand recognitions make it easier for a brain to see connections, gaps get filled in, figure/ground relationships become established, and much more. When I teach, I try to always remind my students that the same animal brain of ours that evolved to easily find food or avoid danger is also the one looking at a cellphone, McDonalds menu or a painting. So I see my work mostly as a matter of creating surfaces that are conscious of those conditions of perception and wanting to actively engage a viewer in forming what is there.
Q: I LIKE HOW YOU USE THE WORD DISRUPTION TO TALK ABOUT YOUR IMAGES. WHAT OTHER WORDS WOULD YOU WORDS TO DESCRIBE YOUR PROCESS OR PRACTICE?
I use the word disruption mostly in regards to the way camouflage theory has used it to describe not only military camouflage technologies but biological examples of camouflage that influenced those technology. Biologists like Hugh Cott were among the first to articulate the way colors and patterns of certain animal species functioned in a specific way to “disrupt” their actual form when perceived in an environment.
Other words I usually reach for in my practice include simultaneity, multiplicity, fugue structures, reiterative looping, and questions of signal and noise.
Q: CAN YOU RECOMMEND ANY MUSIC, MOVIES, OR ART YOU ARE CURRENTLY ENJOYING?
I’ve been feeling fairly overwhelmed and busy recently and when I sit down at the computer to burn through a bunch of emails and grading I usually listen to a track called “Hum” by Jonathan Goldman. It’s an hour long song of densely layered tones that are very soothing but also have kind of a drive that pushes me forward. Good for any occasion!
NNAMDÏ also just released an amazing record!
JORDAN MARTINS
Jordan Martins is a Chicago-based visual artist, curator, and educator. He received his MFA in visual arts from the Universidade Federal da Bahia (UFBA) in Salvador, Brazil in 2007, and is a lecturer at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago and North Park University. He is the executive director of Comfort Station, a multi-disciplinary art space in Chicago. Martins’s visual work is based in collage processes, including painting, photography, video, and installation, and he has exhibited nationally and internationally. His work has been featured in exhibitions at Goldfinch, The Mission, Evanston Art Center, LVL3, The Franklin, The Museu de Arte da Bahia, Zeitgeist, and Experimental Sound Studio. He was a resident in the Chicago Artists Coalition’s HATCH program in 2013. Martins is co-director of the Perto da Lá <> Close to There, a multidisplinary project with international artists in Salvador, Brazil and Chicago.