Layers of Artwork & Identity: Bobby C. Martin

To contact us Click HERE

Author:Cierra Linander (OVAC Intern)

Bobby C. Martin, Homecoming Royalty, Oil on canvas, 24x24"

Tahlequahartist Bobby C. Martin’s piece for the upcoming Concept/OKexhibition, Homecoming Royalty, layersimages and icons related to his identity as a self-defined mixed-blood nativeartist from Oklahoma to define his unique experience of Native American culture.
Althoughhe borrows photos primarily from his family’s collection, viewers acrosscultures of often identify with the Martin’s artworks, which bring to mindshared memories and experiences of events past and present.
CL: What inspired the creation of your Concept/OK piece? BCM: This piece is about cultural identity from my viewpoint as amixed-blood native person living in Oklahoma today. In this piece, and indeedmuch of my artwork, many layers of identity merge in an attempt to define apersonal and cultural history. The list of names and numbers taken from censusrolls (the infamous Dawes Rolls) are one layer of identity; the image itself isanother layer; and the subject matter of the piece itself, with its potentialfor political "incorrectness" is yet another layer.
The photo that inspired this piecewas from my mother's collection of photos from her time at an Indian Trainingschool in Lawrence, Kansas. This photo dates from c. 1952-53 and is a shotof the football homecoming king and queen. No one can remember who thecouple was in the shot. I'm kind of hoping someone sees the couple andrecognizes them, which has happened in my works before.
CL: What particular process do youemploy to execute your works?BCM: What is never consistent is theprocess or media I use to create my art. I am primarily a printmaker, and havelong been interested in layering—whether in content, materials or techniques.My process often begins with a layered digital image manipulated in Photoshop,where I take a scan of old photo and add other bits and pieces of text,textures, etc. From there it can go anywhere—oil on canvas, collage on paper,monotype, mixed media print.
CL: What doyou hope viewers take away from your art?BCM: Even though I use mostly photosfrom my own family's collection (who happen be Native American), I have foundan almost universal response from viewers across cultures, ethnicities andlanguages that has made me realize how the common bond of family and collectivememory contained in these photographs can have a profound effect. I also oftencombine words in the form of historic Indian census rolls, snippets of Christianhymns in the Muscogee language (my tribe) and passages from the Bible to injectadditional layers of meaning into my works.
So my hope is that viewers can find astirred memory or identify with their own family history in my work—and in turnreflect on their own family and identity.

The Concept/OK: Art in Oklahoma exhibition opens December 16, 1-5 pm at the new Tulsa Arts and Humanities Council’s Hardesty Arts Center. See www.concept-ok.org for more information.