Exhibitions - Artist: Toby Martin

Dominion of Divine Discovery
January 21 - March 25, 2007

Frank Toby Martin was born in 1951 in Jacksonville, Florida. Sunday school, discipline, community activities, and sports shaped his childhood. All modeled into a family who supported individual development.

Frank Toby Martin's passion for the arts began while playing in his grandfather's dump as a child. For Martin this place was more than the final destination for others discarded items, this was architecture, sculpture, music, and photography. It was here in his grandfather's material landscape, that he perceived the meaning of form, light, space, and shape. It was also here where he realized that things that normally would not go together could come together as one to create masterpieces.

Martin arrived in Atlanta, Georgia in 1972. It was here that his development as a sculptor began to root itself within the infusion of southern charm, revolution, and segregation. As a sculptor he felt compelled to expose his visions for critical review in order to see his truths lead to wisdom and wisdom to justice.

After receiving his Bachelors of Arts from Morehouse College in 1976, in 1986 Martin went on to attain his MFA degree from Georgia State University , through their sculpture program. His thesis was entitled, Form From My Spirit in a Three Dimensional World.

Throughout Frank Toby Martin collections, there is a constant pursuit of spiritual discovery. His work reflects his being responsible for something and someone, which coincides with his responsibilities as not only an African American man but as a husband and father as well. According to Martin, it is his work that strengthens his existence, rather than his financial holdings. Martin feels that although money is important, it should not be the inspiration to any artist. "I want to leave with a free spirit...I don't want to be trapped by financial slavery" said Martin.

Intertwined through Martin's art is the pursuit of freedom. Freedom obtained through his spirituality, gives him the power to make his own decisions regarding artistic expression. "My sense of direction is based upon my love for freedom" according to Martin this sense of freedom allows him to take his art in many directions. As he states, "one must stay open...be willing to explore different options." He is additionally influenced greatly by the Dogon, tribe of Mali West Africa. The underlying principal of the Dogon can be found in the ideology that we live in an ever-evolving universal womb; the ultimate freedom from which comes through physical transformation (death) into metaphysical transformation (resurrection).

Aesthetics in Layering and Spiritual Transformation
My journey into the layers of art history and my diachronic adventures as an artist has been influenced by the Dogon, Derrida and drifting through the meaning of an interdisciplinary democracy. The visual novel that I wish to share with you shows the layers of decisions that records personal and communal facts. My drifting through the understanding of meaning adds to the layers of my existence. We share existence so there fore we share in the meaning of life. The "Dominion of D" is the rubric in which I will drift through the layers of aesthetic choices and the spiritual levels that intertwine with each layer of understanding.

When I chaired the session on Chiasmatic Aesthetics at the conference in Helsinki, Finland we connected with the intersections of understanding and now two years later we are discussing the layering of the chiasma. The ability to recognize translucent layers is spiritual. In the construction of my visual dialogues, exhibited through installations, I witness the differences documented from the beliefs of Jacque Derrida. The common ground and the layers of soil connect me to the ancestral order of balance. This balance is the meaning of seeds as understood by the Dogon. The sculptural forms that I will show you will be about visual oppositions and the layers that respond to the existence of dialectic history.

The interdisciplinary history of our human existence is the map I drift across to see the boundaries of choice and the decisions made for spiritual comfort. In my work I stray away from prejudice. The layer of freedom that I have shared with others in different communities helps me to understand why philospher Emmanuel Kant speaks on the beautiful and the sublime. Multiple layers between the beautiful are exponential and the sublime is the parallel to the spiritual discovery that I feel and transform into works of art.

I create art by recognition of the layers of existing memories through which the differences of cultural property share the empirical framework of life. The foundation to spiritual transformation begins with an open mind that can appreciate the translucent layers of knowledge.

Discussion of the use of materials will elucidate the depth of reasoning being embraced to accentuate memory. The paintings that I present have layers of contemplation along with the silence that illustrate my visual responses to the issues of man and woman in the spirit of transitioning. The layers of transitioning are profound for me, in the visual novel "Visual and Spiritual Renovations". It is an installation that I will continue to execute until the end of my physical life which responds to the distinguishing layers of cultural differences. The Dogon is a tribe in Africa that responds to the celestial layers of time and how the use of time transforms life. In my production as an artist the spirit of the Dogon is a part of my heritage and one of the underlying layers of my creative thinking in response to their understanding of the seeds of discovery. The seeds express the eloquence of the layers of development and how reverence/devotion to the cultivation of ideas can stabilize cultural harvest.

The question I ponder when I am thinking about the direction of my visions related to the issues of material or purpose of a form is where are the layers of loyalty within the conscious and sub-conscious? In my work I continue to be loyal to the freedom of exponential visual relationships that are always moving my spirit forward to the eternal place that we all will share. The layers of sharing constitute a unique forum that can open a deeper understanding of various levels of space. The space of contemplation removed from the space of silence is the layering of aesthetics I have learned to understand and respect. In my installation "Visual and Spiritual Renovation" one can see the additional layers that come from this dynamic space for equality.

These visual layers, of my aesthetic choices in my approach to shaping form, meaning and history are about the distinct layers I see and feel. The influence of how my memory responds to inspiration characterizes what it means to not be visually mute. Ideas and creative visions can provide a change for the improvement of the human condition. The inclusive layers of philosophy and literature are where art represent the intellectual freedom that should bring dynamic equations for cultural progress.

In the art that I present through slides and video, viewers can visually drift together through freedom of experiences of how individual devotions shape ideas. They can also reflect on how the layers of conscious and unconscious thought can travel and land in a place such as Cyprus, Greece. Through this practice of visual layering of sculpture, photography, paintings and text within art, it will be interesting to see what levels we actually stop and linger. The elevator of layering has no end and this place is the spiritual journey into the translucent layers that shapes my work.

Using many elements in my installations is an interdisciplinary merger of identities and the use of iconography has supported the layers of facts that exist in the art I create. The use of photography in my creative production adds another layer to the visual response to life and work. In the large scale environmental sculptures that I have created all of the previous comments are not always seen in the work thus representing hidden layers. To be seen or not seen, to be heard or not heard are the layers that I understand in my creative journey. If I am not seen I still exist, if I am not heard does not demean my existence because I enjoy creating without recognition. It is death that is the layer to spiritual transitions which are translucent energies to the layer of transformation. May we all enjoy being transformed to the layer to which we will understand the layers of transparencies that shape our lives to the eternal.

Tour Information:

Call 404.612.0500 for information about guided educational tours.
Available with the exhibit - "Viewpoint" a children's interactive handout developed for each exhibition and the video tape viewing of the artist talk.
Ask about the West End Cultural Tour which includes a Hammonds House Museum tour and a visit to the Wren's Nest House Museum.