Chris Martin (artist)

Chris Martin was born in Washington, DC, in 1954.[1] His grandmother was a landscape painter.[2] He grew up in Washington, and works in Brooklyn, New York. He studied painting at Yale University but did not complete the course; in the 1990s he attended the School of Visual Arts and left with a degree in art therapy. He worked as an art therapist for some fifteen years.[2]

Chris Martin, Staring into the Sun 2003-2006 oil, paper, collage, and staples on canvas 79 x 86 inches (200.1 x 218.4 cm)

He makes colorful, abstract paintings, often with elements of collage and text.[4][5] His work is casualist, and employs various media.[6][7] He considers it to be influenced by the Catskill Mountains, which he often visited when young.[8][7][9][10]

An early member of the Williamsburg art scene, he still maintains the same studio he has had since the mid-1980s, in what used to be a florist's freezer.[9]