artiste d'mon >>> herbie martin

Somewhere between the Hands of Time
Interview by: silverio pantalla

How long have you been a artist?
I think, I have been an artist all my life. From a very early age, I showed a great abilty towards many disciplines in the arts. About 20 years ago, I fell in love with photography. Still to this day is my strongest suit.

How is it like to be you as an artist?
It's without a doubt a wide range of emotions. Art in general is all about ways to express oneself whether directly or otherwise. In a simple three letter word; schizophrenic.

What projects do you feel best describes you as an artist?
All of them. Everything I do has that Herbie Martin groove. For better or for worse, my personality is stamped into it. I like to think my work has some esoteric qualities and philosophies to it. I just simply call it; Herblish.

What has been your most exciting project?
That's really a hard question to answer because, I always hope that my most exciting project is the one that has yet to come. I like to call my projects; adventures in self discovery. For that same reason, I like to believe that all projects are like chapters of a much larger piece of work. As long as I am alive, there will be excitement for sure with my work.

What is your most important goal in life as an artist?
There is absolutely no goal whatsoever. Of course, I could be lying, but not really. Goals are simply imposed limitations upon our own humanity. My goal right now is finish this interview.

What is the biggest misunderstanding about yourself?
People think that I am lazy. I like to think of myself as very efficient. Lazy people do better in life than those who labor in vain I suppose. I see people working harder than they have to all the time or doing things they rather not do. Life is too short to do useless things. I have always believed that when you give a lazy person a hard task to do, they will find an easier way to do it.

Who have been some of your main influences?
There are so many. Photographically speaking, I have been heavily influenced by the works of Edward Steichen, Andre Kertesz, Margaret Bourke-White, Robert Frank and the incredible Eugene Smith among others. I cannot forget my visual heroes like Picasso, Salvador Dali, Egon Schiele and Gustav Klimpt.

Tell me about your upcoming projects, activities and or events
For the time being I am concentrated like orange juice to show my most recent crop of images named "Somewhere Between the Hands of Time". This collection of images will be shown all year. I am always shooting and always doing corporate work, there is no stopping til' Brooklyn.