For Johannesburg-based artist Rhett Martyn, born 1971, “time itself is one of the most important ingredients when making art.” Because Martyn’s work is process-driven, he explains that “the initial subject matter of my artwork is less important than the transformation that takes place when working on the piece. The imprint of different thoughts, marks, and ideas show up on the surface and result in artwork that has changed dramatically from its original conceptual state.”
Martyn completed a National Higher Diploma in Fine Art at Durban University of Technology in 1995 and completed his Masters in Fine Art at Wits University in 2012.
Whether Martyn is depicting a skull, a landscape, or a horse, “it is what happens in the process of making that these images become definitive. In other words, my images emerge through the working process itself, not a process of having an idea and then simply depicting that idea”, he says.
For the artist, “each artwork is subject to the mood, pace, and flow of my existence. No two pieces look the same, just as no two days are ever the same. As far as the subject matter is concerned, I might initially respond to a political situation, a brief, or a commission, but the life of the artwork exists on an existential level. As a result, my work is more about a generative process that reacts to the ebb and flow of life.”
Martyn may take days to produce a single artwork, resulting in multiple layers embedded into the surface. The final image can look simple and iconographic, but, on closer inspection, the surfaces are immensely complex and layered.
Rhett Martyn
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