Martin bradley Artist

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e-journal of Asian Arts and Culture

dusunquarterlyspecial edition

martin bradley

artist

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e-journal of Asian Arts and Culture

dusunquarterly

my inspirationHoney by Martin

cover martin bradleyeditor martin bradley

email [email protected]

Dusun TM

dusun is a not for profit publication

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martin bradley

artist

44northern memory

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July 2014

was born in Clapham, London, lived in East Anglia (England), then Chennai, India, and has resided in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. for over a decade. Martin gained two diplomas in Art & Design, and Graphic Design from the Colchester School of Art, England and later went on to study philosophy (B.A.Hons) and Masters degrees in Art History & Theory, and in Gallery (exhibition) studies. at the University of Essex, England. ExhibitionsGroupArte digital por la PAZ, Digital Art, Spain 2008Surrealism Now 2006, Digital Art, Surrealism Now Gallery, W.W.W 2006

SoloGouache paintings, Library, Walton, England 2005Correspondences, Digital Art and Photography, Les Livres Gallery, England 2005Digital Art, Vagabonds Gallery, Ipswich, England, 2005Eastern Digital Prints, Photographs and images of India, Library, Walton, England 2005 Flora, Flower Photography, Library, Walton, England - 2003An Eastern Eye, Photographs and Digital representations of India, Curry in a Hurry Restaurant, Colchester, England - 2001Motorcycle Tank Art, Private Collection jewelers, Colchester, England, 1983Gouache and Air Brush images, Trinity Galleries, Colchester, England 1982

Martin Bradley

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9 art in the age of mechanical reproduction

floral dance 16

22 modern - isms

ikat tiga satu udang 42

50 illustrations

a penchant for phantasy 56

82 gouache paintings

inside

77it takes two, sometime three

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glamour of the night

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art in the age of mechanical reproduction

i woz ‘ere

10twosome

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agua air

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sunday

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Malaysia's rural villages have many legends. If stories are to be believed there are many ghosts, not just supernatural but echoes of tragic stories left behind by families, lovers and unique interactions by rural humanity. For almost seven years I travelled along rough tracks in my Jeep, taking my camera with me. There were so many wooden kampung houses just left to rot as the previous owners had died, and the younger generations had fled to the towns and cities to make the living they were unable to do in those secreted villages. All along the kampung dirt tracks, overshadowed by banana and coconut trees there were these dilapidated buildings waiting to fall, covered in flora and immense character. Snakes and insects had made them home in a mosquito filled environment. Termites built hills nearby the small forgotten orchards of rambutan and mango, colourful beetles launched from unkempt torch ginger flowers to land on bushes of pandan.

kampong house

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floral danceContinuing the series of digital artworks created while Martin was living in rural Malaysia. He had started using digital layering in Photoshop back in England, some decade and a half ago. By the time he had left England for Malaysia Martin had given up physical painting altogether. It just was not practical to carry bags of gouache colours and paintbrushes around with him. Digital layering relies on Martin taking many digital photographic images of the countryside around me, often cutting out the main image, by hand, then adding different photographs, in layers and manipulating their density, colour, sometimes erasing parts of the photographs to let other layers show through. The final image is arrived at in a process similar to abstract painting, in so much as you know, roughly, where you want to end up but anything can, and does, happen along the way. He stresses that ALL the images he uses are taken by himself, not rummaged from the internet. It is important that he is seen as the whole originator of these images, that he has selected the images all the way through the process trying to ascertain the 'essence' of Malaysian rural life, at any one moment in time.

always leafing never staying

17always leafing never staying

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batik dance

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batik new

2020

Batik has been a craft form found in Indonesia and Malaysia for centuries. Several decades ago it was elevated to an art form by Malaysian artists working in this media. Here Martin translates these batik forms and symbols into digital art.

digital batik

2121

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popmodern - isms

dylan

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stranded

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Pop Modernisms is a digital solution to narratives about ‘digital art’ and popular music. Many of the images in this series make referrence to music, musicians or artists fondly remembered from Martin’s youth.

she’ll tell you what she wants when she wants it

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she’ll tell you what she wants when she wants it

viral on the net

2626some splash after david

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wayward seed

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3030i remember al stewart

3131

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a warhol lotta love

33did andy eat yu

3434deserted cities of the heart

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a night on the...

37semiotic salves

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sometimes we see dragons

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i’m beginning to see the light

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mapping her slowly

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ikan tiga satu udangMartin writes - ‘For nearly seven years I was living in rural Malaysia, two hours away from the capital Kuala Lumpur, in a land of lakes - remnants of Tin Mining. During this time I was concerned with capturing the essence of the area in which I was living, the environment and the people. While much of my work was concerned with the abundance of flowers all year long, and the close proximity of what remains of the jungle, indigenous tribes people, I had become fascinated with trying to depict both the eating habits, and also the leisure activities of many of the local people - Malays and Chinese especially, as there were few Indians close by. The chief leisure activity seemed to be fishing - in the Mining Pool lakes opposite my bungalow house. Men, and it was mostly men, would arrive at the series of lakes opposite my house early morning, or early evening. It was too hot amidst the sand, to fish during the punishing heat of the day. They would mostly fish for Talipia, which occurred mostly in black, though there were some red ones too. Flowerhorn fish survived there too, though to catch one was a rarity. One enterprising Chinese man would come with a large net, cast it out, then wait and wade into the lake to pull the struggling fish to himself. Another hoisted a flat bottomed boat into the lake and net cast from that. Ikan means fish in Malay, and Mati death. The image is literally Dead Fish. I had visited the morning market in the nearest town (Kampar) many times, and was intrigued by the different types of dried fish available. Over time I bought various types of dried fish, photographed them and set about making those images my own to represent the people and place in which I was living, using Photoshop layers. Each image would have multiple layers of photographs and therefore a composite.’

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ikan tiga satu udang

ikan mati

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ikan mati dua

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ikan mati tiga

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udang

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illustrations

water buffalo

fondly remembered kampong

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graphic kampong

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For three years, once a month, Martin created illustrations for The Expat Magazine, Malaysia. They accompanied his page of autobiotravel writing, talking about rural Malaysia. This was to be found as the last page (last word) each issue.

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Comissioned illustration for the front cover

of Sharmini Flint’s book The Undone Years, Singapore.

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a penchant for

phantasy

56the goddess

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a penchant for

phantasy

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From his early pen and ink drawings for the British Fantasy Society, in the 1970s, Martin has loved fantasy imagery. Moving into digital painting and drawing has enabled him to work more successfully in this media.

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green man

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Martin has always had an interest in the folklore of the country of his birth. The Green Man is central to some of the pre-Christian beliefs. Perhaps due to his dual ancestry - English and Irish, the legends of pagan Briton strike a cord with him. Images of Celtic lore, Celtic knots, images of The Green Man and The Goddess point back to Martin’s days growing up in rural England. An England surrounded by woods, forests, rivers and streams. Flora and fauna enough for a young imagaination to grow into.

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green glade

60other times

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deeper seas

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The Green Man, The Goddess, fables, stories of faerie permeate a romantised Albion

by the river I wept

63dream

64sprite

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66far away

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green glade

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flora-abunda

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falling towards the light

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eye of the beholder

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serene artificial breath of inspiration

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serene artificial breath of inspiration

7474madonna flowers

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7676

orange flower planet

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wira kampong

aishwarya

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Since Martin’s various journeys to Malaysia, visiting Indian friends there, (beginning in 1981), Martin developed a fondness for Indian ‘Bollywood’ films and their music. On return from one of these trips he created a large gouache painting of the Indian film star Aishwarya Rai. Later he re-drew that image as a digital artwork, in various guises. Text by Baudelaire

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Give Peas a Chancewas exhibited in Spain, atala Municipal de exposiciones de Torredelcampo -Jaén- (26 march to 11 april 2008)

Sala e exposiciones de la Es-cuela de Arte José Nogué Jaén- (21 to 30 april 2008)

Universidad de Jaén (may 2008)

Escuela de Arte Gaspar Becer-ra de Baeza -Jaén- (26 to 30 may 2008)

as part of the ARTE DIGITAL POR LA PAZ (Digital Art for Peace) 2008.

81give peas a chance

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gouachepaintings

Inspired by his various trips to India, and watching the Indian miniaturists working with their fine brushes, Martin bought brushes in Rajastan and began working in gouache (opaque watercolour). Those years of symbolic and philosophical gouche paintings came to a close when Martin moved first to Chennai, and later to Malaysia, where he settled to work, in earnest, with the new digital media, something he had begun working on in his final years in England.

a selection of

83serious selfie

84tamil om