Drawing on inspiration from Buddhism to Amy Winehouse, Chris Martin creates bold abstract works that explore the unknowable psychological tendencies of art. His canvases are characterized by flat-yet-textured planes of saturated color, and will often incorporate found materials and highly personal paper ephemera. Works such as Untitled (2013) demonstrate the influence of Pablo Picasso's collages, and his canvases' strong geometries also elaborate a self-proclaimed attachment to Piet Mondrian. Martin's practice came of age in 1980s New York, which saw the explosion of the East Village art scene, led by Keith Haring. This monograph collects texts by Glenn O'Brien, Nancy Princenthal, Trinie Dalton and Dan Nadel: in detail essays are focused on Chris Martin as a young man in he 1970s (Glenn O'Brien); on Brooklyn in the 1990s and Martin's influence in the 2000s (Dan Nadel); on Chris Martin and the history of New York abstraction (Nancy Princenthal) and on the culture that has informed Chris Martin (Trinie Dalton).
