Artist spotlight: Martin Jordan
In this post we’ll be focusing on Martin Jordan’s commission for Culture Box. As we’ll find out, his work is fundamental to the research project and shaped the creative content of the boxes. This post will give context to his commission and provide some details about his inspiration and creative process.
Martin Jordan was commissioned by Culture Box to create a series of twelve paintings of different species of trees from around the world along with black and white line drawings of details such as leaves and fruit, for participants to colour in.
Here are some of the colouring pages that Martin designed:
These images were contained in each physical box and formed the basis of many of the activities. Each box was themed around a different tree, some indigenous to the UK, others were tropical species native to countries across the globe. The diversity of plant-life represented in the images was hugely inspiring for the participants. The African tree species, like the Baobab and Banyan tree, sparked conversation, reminiscence, and reflection from participants about their lives back home. This was particularly true for one resident, Dabir, who was from Somalia – the representation of the Baobab and Banyan trees brought back memories of his homeland and discussions about native animals, particularly the difference between African and Asian elephants. His artwork proved very popular with many of the participants, something that he’d hoped for.
Banyan and Baobab Tree
Martin’s work was inspired by his time travelling in jungle regions in the Amazon, he provided us with a few details about his time overseas:
“I spent 20 years exploring remote jungle regions with my wife Tanis, resulting in a lifetime of inspiration for artistic endeavour. We've had several books published and I illustrated four lavish books on Amazonian wildlife that won awards in the UK and USA.”
His work is wide reaching and has been picked up by many organisations, he explains that:
“I've designed numerous book jackets for major publishers, posters for wildlife conservation fundraisers (also a lifesize fibreglass elephant auctioned by Christies) and painted designs for internationally successful 'Lifeline' T-shirts. My patrons included the late Edward Goldsmith, founder of 'The Ecologist Magazine', and casino owner and breeder of endangered wild animals, the late John Aspinal who commissioned a mural room at 'Aspinals' club in Mayfair, London, and two further mural rooms at his mansion in Port Lympne in Kent. The latter is now a hotel.”
“I've had five successful solo shows in central London and exhibited work in many venues, including the British Museum. My preferred medium is oil on canvas.”
Martin was introduced to Culture Box by Emma Barnard (the visual arts lead on the project), who commissioned the series from Martin. He submitted a painting of a tree for consideration, the work got him a place on the project as one of the commissioned artists! He really enjoyed working with Emma, “who was always ready with constructive advice, suggestions and comments.”
Fundamentally, the project suited his preferred medium, technique, and choice of subject matter. Furthermore, the intentions and aims of the project aligned with his own interests and opinions on the historical role of art in our spiritual and creative wellbeing. He reflected that:
“Humankind's artistic instinct is probably as old as when our ancestors were confined to their ancestral home in Africa. Along with language and storytelling, music, tool-making and the control of fire, art is a fundamental phenomenon that we all need spiritually. I believe mental and physical health benefits have accrued for both artists and recipients of their work since prehistoric times.”
At the end of the interview, he told us that: “although I've enjoyed some success as a wildlife artist, the main body of my work (90%) is art of imagination”. For him, art of imagination is “anything imagined but painted figuratively so as to look real. For example, a picture depicting winged angels flying across the English countryside would be considered art of imagination, but a flock of geese flying would not be.” He also calls these imaginary depictions “dream imagery” - the imaginary and dream-like realms of our mind is something that has fascinated him, calling to mind a '“bizarre vivid theatre of unlikely events”. This work is described my Martin as “very large”, on canvases that range up to seven metres long. This scale is something that he has used throughout his artistic career, enabling him “to step nimbly into painting enormous wildlife murals in stately homes.” You can find this work on his website.
Get in contact with Martin
You can find out more about his work via his website.
He is available over email on: tmjordan559@gmail.com
He will shortly be joining Twitter and Facebook.