Galerie Gigi is delighted to present the photographic works of A. Martin.
ANTHONY “TONY” MARTIN (b. 1940) has been captivated by visual images all his life. The advent of advanced digital techniques has allowed him to merge elements of childhood whimsy, a teenage preoccupation with electronics, and a long career as a commercial photographer into a unique art form he calls, “vibrational art”.
Growing up in the Irish Channel of New Orleans, Martin admits he was an “unusual child”. As he often sat observing the energies of the universe, he could actually visualize the energies or vibrations of people and objects around him. He remembers his secret amazement as designs, colors, and abstract images danced across his field of vision. He kept this experience a secret because, “I didn’t understand it, and I knew others didn’t see what I saw. But now, I know that these images have a basis in reality, and I allow them full expression in my artistic vision.”
In college, Martin studied electronics, enthralled with oscilloscopes and circuitry. He loved playing with resistance and watching patterns emerge and change. Shortly afterwards, while working for the public television station WYES as a film editor, Martin’s career as a photographer began after hours, with an antique 1901 large-format graphic camera. In the darkroom, he began exploring the techniques of manipulating images and lighting. He eventually took over as staff photograpoher.
Martin later moved on to WVUE-TV, where he edited film and managed the darkroom for sixteen years. Composing photos for ad layouts, he grew adept at using cutting edge techniques like double exposure and matting. He developed into a highly skilled technician long before digital photography opened the doors to new levels of creativity.
His process, Martin says, starts with “feeling out the specific vibration” of a subject. “I’m not just a clicker,” he says, “I am very focused and particular when I am choosing what to photograph. It’s all in the lighting and the vibration. If I’m not in the right zone, nothing happens. I can’t force the process.” The next step is to manipulate the photo digitally, in order to express the essence of the subject as he experiences it vibrationally.
Even more intriguing is the varied reactions that the pieces elicit. “People respond to my work,” he says, “in ways that reflect their own individual energies, as people do with Rorschach ink blots.”
Martin’s art is of the moment. He senses “an amazing evolution in consciousness today. There are so many positive changes taking place in our city and across the world. I am happy to be part of all this, and I intend for my art to have a positive, healing effect on the lives of the people who experience it.”
Please join us on Friday March 19th from 6-8pm at Galerie Gigi for an opening reception with the artist. The exhibition runs at Galerie Gigi from March 19th – April 17th, Thursday through Sat 11am to 5pm.
For more information contact Galerie Gigi director, Lindsay Viner at (713) 385-7890 or lindsay.viner@gmail.com.
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