Josh Martin

Some people are startled when they realize my pieces aren't paintings, and though my goal isn't necessarily to fool anyone, I love that much of my work has a painterly quality, because that means I've been successful in taking an unremarkable object or surface, like a scrap of rusted metal or corroding section of pipe, and giving it an unexpected new and colorful life--and perhaps a bit of immortality.

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I grew up in Southern California, and I graduated from UCLA in 1993. I had parents who were professors of photography and art history, so the absorption and appreciation of art (however subconscious) while growing up just came with the territory.

As an adult living in Los Angeles, I indulged my creative and aesthetic impulses by working as a film & television makeup artist. On set and off, my camera was never far from my side, and I always took a lot of snapshots, but the thought of making art with my camera hadn't yet occurred to me.

In 2003, I took a road trip to Seattle, fell instantly in love with the climate and the city itself, and moved here permanently less than two months later. Something about the way the climate of the Pacific Northwest affects the deterioration of industrial materials intrigued me and in...

It's true, I'm self-taught. But an artistic nature is in my DNA on both sides of the family, so art is coming through me whether I've been educated about it or not!