Biography:
Kai Martin is a locally-raised San Diego artist, born in January of 1986. He spent most of his childhood drawing, and thrived with his family’s loving and constant support.
Like other kids his age, he perused the latest comics, cartoons, and video games. He began realizing that he had even more fun creating his own imaginary universes, characters, and projects. The freedom to create anything he could imagine on canvas sparked his artistic passion.
Kai nurtured his talents with private art classes at Neko Press Art Studios. Since then, Kai has been live painting for almost 4 years. He painted on stage with his friend’s band, Silent Armada, at venues including SOMA, Chain Reaction, Epicentre, Hard Rock Hotel Las Vegas, and Rock Bottom.
He met local artists Sean Dietrich and Vincent Gordon, as well as Infusion Project head honcho, DJ Schugar. They gave him opportunities to do live painting at clubs, such as The Ivy, Stingaree, W Hotel, Ruby Room, and many more.
However, Kai’s unique style and blend of influences (eg. cartooning, art house films, and black metal) is best suited for comics, and he is currently at work on his first drama/horror graphic novel series, Fruition, with co-writer and high school friend Anthony Trevino. Fruition is slated to hit comic book shelves in early 2012.
Connect with Kai on Facebook. You can send love letters and compliments to kai@kaimartinart.com.
Artist Statement:
I’ve been an artist my entire life. I’ve explored my style across mediums like comic books, fine art, and graphic design. I’m always working on my graphic novel, which will soon be perfect for publication. I’m always painting, and pushing each one closer to perfection than the one before. I use my experience and formal education in graphic design to express aesthetic balance in everything I do. Then I find ways to completely ignore the rules– and include things that get other art majors angry.
I’m not a musician. I have no realized tendencies towards learning music, but in some alternate flash-sideways universe, I must be a musician. There has to be some tenuous link between these two realities, because I feel like music influences everything I do. I generally enjoy music that’s raw, earthy, and visceral, and my art often ends up the same way.
If it were up to me, every time I paint, I’d be between the drummer and guitarist of the heaviest band on earth. We would create art together! I’d be drenched in sound while I drenched my canvas with paint. I actually got my start as a live painter, producing paintings on stage with a band. They weren’t the heaviest band on earth, but I made the best of my situation (and dreamed of someday reaching my real goal.)
Really, the things I haven’t done and the places I’ve never been are what inspire my art. In another dimension, I’m also an oceanographer, a ladies’ man, and a paranormal investigator. I could show people where I’ve really been in my art (and I do sometimes), but I prefer using what I create as a platform to dream and wonder. What drives us forward is the future unknown, and what we do now to make it the best it can be.
