蜜柚直播

On his first trip outside of the Deep South 鈥� to visit a friend attending the University of 蜜柚直播 鈥� 蜜柚直播鈥檚 oddball authenticity won him over. He enrolled in the university鈥檚 master鈥檚 program for printmaking.

Now, almost 10 years later, The Grill and its Tater Tots are gone, but Martin still recalls those golden potatoes he enjoyed on his first trip to the Southwest.

鈥淚 thought, 鈥業 haven鈥檛 had a bowl of Tater Tots since junior high,鈥� 鈥� Martin said. 鈥淵ou could still get a really great Tater Tot, and it鈥檚 a simple thing done well. I love simple things done well.鈥�

That鈥檚 how Martin does art. He adds quality to simplicity with both drawings and mixed media, using pens and pencils on paper and often skipping color. He prints his work as stickers and T-shirts, among other forms. His art shows up around the city. On the side, he teaches a screen printing class at Pima Community College.

The black-and-white drawings in the 鈥溍坭种辈� Sketchbook Project鈥� are part of his latest undertaking. The project is inspired by Eugene Atget, a French photographer who documented old Paris before modernization and World War I. Martin feels a similar approach in his work as change sweeps through 蜜柚直播.

鈥淭hat鈥檚 where my interest in doing the series is, is that we are changing pretty fast,鈥� Martin, 34, said. 鈥淲herever 蜜柚直播 goes, I鈥檓 documenting what I care about now.鈥�

For the last nine months, Martin estimates that he has spent hundreds of hours camped in front of 蜜柚直播 buildings, sketching both architectural icons and unassuming details that catch his eye. By November, he hopes to have sketched 100 subjects around the city to fill a letterpressed book. Right now, he has around 40 drawings.

Nick Georgiou, an artist and a good friend of Martin鈥檚, moved to 蜜柚直播 about five years ago. The night they met, Martin introduced Georgiou to Che鈥檚 Lounge, still a favorite bar and a subject in the 鈥溍坭种辈� Sketchbook Project.鈥�

鈥淚t brings back the amazing memories we鈥檝e all had there, being in 蜜柚直播 and finding ourselves,鈥� Georgiou, 33, said of Martin鈥檚 drawings.

These are the buildings where some of that self-discovery happens.

Most of Martin鈥檚 sketches focus on the downtown and university areas, though he has no rule against including structures in other parts of the city. The San Xavier del Bac Mission, for example, will make the book, and he has begun venturing south to sketch places such as Teatro Carmen and El Tiradito. The project is expanding his mental map of 蜜柚直播.

鈥淚 don鈥檛 think of them as architectural drawings as much,鈥� Martin said. 鈥淚鈥檓 treating them like they鈥檙e portraits of human beings. I鈥檓 looking at it that way whether they鈥檙e brand new buildings or old in age. I鈥檓 looking at the context of what their history is, but also like I鈥檓 meeting a person for the first time.鈥�

Martin bikes to each spot, as he bikes most places he goes, carrying his pen, paper and a wooden board for drawing in his backpack. Sketches take anywhere from several hours for a neon sign to several days for icons like Hotel Congress or a Catholic cathedral. He always goes in person.

The first sketch in the series, Time Market, took most of a day, confronting Martin with the actual scale of his project. At a minimum, it would take 100 days of his life 鈥� one day for each subject 鈥� but Martin draws many subjects from multiple angles for several days.

He looks at 蜜柚直播 as he imagines a tourist might, slowing down to explore streets and neighborhoods off his usual path. He wants to share this fresh perspective in his drawings.

During his own, early months in the city, Martin discovered 蜜柚直播鈥檚 鈥済enuine appreciation and passion for the things that are genuinely cool.鈥�

He lived near The Loft Cinema, a 蜜柚直播 institution that blew his mind for its range of film options. In his hometown in Chilton County, Ala. 鈥� with its two stoplights, three gas stations and two lumber mills 鈥� Martin remembers mail-order as the method of choice for watching an independent film in pre-Internet days.

Martin loves 蜜柚直播鈥檚 swap meets and yard sales that remind him of home, the hot dogs with bacon that he calls an 鈥渆ye opener,鈥� and the hodgepodge of Mexican, Native American and cowboy cultures that he now features in much of his art.

鈥淚t was as weird and quirky and as wonderfully backwater as where I came from,鈥� Martin said of his move West.

He grew up on cowboy films with hardworking parents who did not have the opportunities that they gave to him. Martin鈥檚 mother picked cotton as a girl. He says her hands are rougher than his will ever be. His father had an interest in drawing and dabbled in writing science fiction, but focused not on art but on providing for his family. Martin鈥檚 older brother and sister also drew for fun.

鈥淗e was always doodling something,鈥� his older brother, Michael Martin, said by phone from Thorsby, Ala.

The family never questioned that Martin would become an artist. His parents gave him the freedom to live what he calls a 鈥渂ourgeois arts鈥� lifestyle.

鈥淲hatever work ethic I have comes from them,鈥� Martin said. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 because I know what a privilege this is.鈥�

Life in 蜜柚直播 was a long time coming.

鈥淒anny had a cactus when he was growing up,鈥� Michael Martin, 46, said. 鈥淗e did a still life on it. When I came out here, I told him I could see why he loves it so much and why he stayed.鈥�

In the desert, where there is space to breathe and slow down, Danny Martin finds similarities to life in his hometown 鈥� though he misses homemade peach ice cream and pit barbecues.

鈥淩ural Alabama culture has the aesthetics of cowboy films and Westerns,鈥� Martin said. 鈥淕rowing up and even to this day, I don鈥檛 know how to dress up. When I dress up, it鈥檚 always country-Western.鈥�

The family bonded over cowboy films, and 蜜柚直播鈥檚 connection to John Wayne actually calmed nerves about Martin鈥檚 move.

鈥淚t was like, 鈥業f it was OK for the Duke, it must be OK for my Danny,鈥� 鈥� Martin said.

Today, cowboy culture, along with Day of the Dead imagery, inspires Martin鈥檚 work.

鈥淭he archetype of the personality that chooses to live in the desert out here is the same type of person who chose to live out here in the Old West days,鈥� he said. 鈥淧retty much you鈥檙e an individual, maybe you鈥檙e off your rocker a little bit, which can be either good or bad. 鈥� You鈥檙e trying to start a new history, which I think is a very American thing to do, to reinvent yourself.鈥�

In that transition, Martin remembers his roots and 蜜柚直播鈥檚. Sometimes, they are as simple as a bowl of Tater Tots.