60 Seconds With...Shantell Martin
In "60 Seconds With," ELLE DÉCOR editor Charles Curkin chats with creatives and industry leaders getting the scoop on their life and work in one minute or less. In this installment, he chats with Shantell Martin, a British born artist specializing in line drawings. Martin has enjoyed solo shows at the MoCADA Museum and Albright Knox gallery and spent two years as a MIT Media Lab Visiting Scholar. She's collaborated with artists like Kendrick Lamar, designer Kelly Wearstler, and brands like Puma, Nike, and Tiffany & Co. She's also an adjunct professor at NYU Tisch ITP. Martin's one minute starts...now.
You’re an artist-in-residence at 92Y in Manhattan.
Yes.
Congratulations. What’s on your agenda there?
A gallery show, a series of youth programs, and a talk with Ilana Glazer from Broad City.
Yas queen! What’s your connection to her?
She’s a fan of mine and has some of my art in her home.
What would you change about the art world with the snap of a finger?
I’d take down the facade built around it and call out all the BS and make it transparent.
Which BS is that?
We have an art world that doesn’t want to open up to everyone, because it might no longer have an air of importance. Wealthy people would still spend money on art but, at the same time, we’d empower artists and let everyone feel like they’re a part of it.
Keith Haring or Jean-Michel Basquiat: What’s your preference?
Somewhere in the middle.
Plans after the 92Y residency is over?
One involves a big New York City institution. The other is a one-woman show, which will be a mixture of live improvised music, drawing, and speaking. It’s an exploration of myself.
Which space would you most like to decorate the walls of?
The Guggenheim museum in NYC. I’d want to do the interior and exterior walls. Can you put in a request for me?
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