Robert-Martin-Marty's-Ring,-Mother's-Shame

Robert Martin, Marty’s Ring, Mother’s Shame + Truvada, 2021

Robert Martin’s works bring forward the myriad aspects of queerness in the pedagogy of Wildlife art. By utilizing already established iconography and then tilting the narrative through the inclusion of queer symbology, the artist subverts the visual language of this romanticized genre of American art. According to the artist, “Queerness is not absent from the American hinterland. In fact, I see it everywhere. The trouble comes from a lack of acknowledgment, and the bleeding of human heteronormative perceptions over the natural, Fluid environment.” Through subtle and flamboyant imagery, Martin aims to return queerness to rural America.

Robert Martin (b. 1994) earned their BFA in Studio Art from the University of Wisconsin-Stout (2017), and their MFA in Studio Practices at the University of Colorado-Boulder (Painting & Drawing, 2021). They have exhibited at GOCA in Colorado Springs, Sierra Arts Gallery in Reno, IDS Tower in Minneapolis, the Valley in Taos, and along Colorado’s Front Range. They were a 2020 Rough Gems Curator at Union Hall in Denver, a 2019 NEST Grant recipient at CU-Boulder, and their work was featured in UW-Stout’s 2017 Journal of Student Research. In 2021, Martin was awarded the New American Paintings’ Emerging Artist Grant. The artist lives and works in Denver, CO.