Moyosore Martins Exploring Nostalgia

The word Iranti means nostalgia, which is the idea at the heart of Martins' new collection. Exploring the moments of happy and sad nostalgia we experience in our everyday lives, from memories of lost lovers and friends to pure childhood memories that float through our mind because of a smell or sound. Martins understands the importance of holding space for these memories and the impact they have on us, conscious or otherwise

Check out office's exclusive interview with Moyosore Martins below.

I would love to know your backstory story. I read that you started creating art because you would have these vivid dreams and needed to sketch to get them out of your head; I would love to know more about that.

From time to time, I would just get premonitions, flashbacks, messages even when I would be going for walks to clear my head. I would get these nostalgic flashbacks, and when I get home or when I get back to my studio, I just try to let them out. Sometimes I really don't know what I'm doing with a piece. It won't be clear to me until I'm done; sometimes, it even takes a few days.

You need to let it sink in?

Yeah, and a lot of the time, I work on multiple pieces simultaneously. I create a piece without understanding the message. I get clarity on another in the middle of one, and it all comes from dreams and messages.

Did you always know you wanted to be an artist?

So, I always knew that my love for art was there. It just took a long time for me to find support in my art. I couldn't start early because that wasn't there, but the love and need to create have always been there.

Has your main focus always been painting?

I like to try everything. I have worked with furniture design, sculpture, fashion design, illustrating; I want to use different materials in my pieces, like beads and yarn. I can't just do one thing. There's too much material to use to stick to one thing.

When did you begin to experiment with mixing mediums and materials?

So in Africa, art everywhere is like that. You find huge sculptural ornaments made from fabric and paintings with beads in them. It's all mixed media. I grew up knowing people who would make art using so many different elements. That subconscious idea of mixing materials has just always been there. When I started practicing and studying, I just never questioned combining these things. I would be creating, and something would happen to the piece, and instead of thinking, 'Oh no, that's not right,' I would see it as a beautiful mistake. Going with the mistakes and errors got me to this point.

Aside from the dreams and visions that got you started making art, where do you find your inspiration?

The artists' journey. The artists' journey is fascinating. It comes with a lot of frustration, pain, emotion, and pressure. So I'm feeling so many of those emotions, but it is also a wonderful zone when you can stay grounded and focused. I try and keep structure while navigating the journey I'm on. Finding balance within that and being inspired by the people that I have met throughout my life.

The artist struggle.

Yeah! It made me a loner. I was always trying to find solitude and do things on my own while still trying to find a way to express myself. I would create for myself rather than trying to express myself to someone who wouldn't understand me. The Yoruba culture gave me a strong sense of spirituality, but I was also born into a catholic home. My dad was a catholic, I went to all chaotic schools, so I had the fusion of both the traditional and the old catholic religion. I was in the middle, and it helped me understand and see the differences between them. In Nigeria, there are many tribes with different languages, cultures, and traditions, and I grew up around them and with friends from another tribe. Just like how you have friends from other religions, you understand their traditions and cultures. That mix of cultures really influenced me as well. It's a mixture of all traditions. I think that really comes through in your work and the way you can blend mediums so seamlessly.

The influence of everything around you really shines through in your work. I would love to know how you came to use the color palette that you do. These deep rich colors are so beautiful that I feel like people would be scared to work with them. What is it that draws you to these colors?

I see the world very vividly, so I just try to paint what I see. I grew to find a way to manipulate the paint and the color itself to complement each other. There's a technique in which you use vivid colors like "normal" colors, and I just really leaned into that. Using three or four different shades of blacks and blues allows for the depth to really come through. And all the pieces glow in the dark.

Oh really?

Yeah, so I use different materials and unique pigments. It takes a while to understand the pieces with the colors and the encrypted messages. Just adding layers and layers and deconstructing them, then going back and adding more layers. I like to think that the messages on there are almost therapeutic. They're repeated so people can start to remember what is trying to be said. I'm just trying to make people get it. I work at night a lot. There are lamps everywhere, but the little light there is very soft, so the pieces look different when I make them and when they're in my studio than when they are in a space like this.

How do you begin creating a piece?

I really treat it as a ritual. I have my set of tools that I use, and I set them up next to the canvas, put on some music, and allow myself to just sit with all the materials. I just let myself be, and it comes to me gradually. I don't have to worry about what paints or colors to use. Once I focus on the message, everything else falls into place. The most important thing is the message, it's not just a decorative painting on the wall, but for me, the motive is essential. The why. Why did I make this? Why is this the message that came through? I want it to hold meaning that continues to evolve as different people see it. Sometimes the viewer knows more than I do. It's like a give and take.

Do you have any idea what your next project is going to be?

My next project, so before I had this show, I had the name. This show is Iranti, nostalgia, its about the flashbacks, me wanting to be in a different place, living in two other worlds. So I know the next show is going to be called the artists' journey. The pieces will be about the artist's journey and everything that comes with being an artist. I am in the phase where you know that saying you need to be careful what you wish for? Now that my wish is becoming a reality, it's become something I never expected, all of that will be exhibited in the next show, the artist's journey.

That sounds amazing. I can't wait to see it!

Yes, I am excited to get started.

Thank you so much for meeting with my Moyosore. It was so amazing to see this show and get to speak with you.

Yes, thank you too!

Art

LIA LIA by Iga Drobisz

Your work often explores intimacy and vulnerability. How do you create a safe and authentic environment for your subjects during a shoot?

The past few months, I’ve been working on two series of photographs: nudes of women in their own apartments and portraits of women before and after giving birth. Both series involve capturing them in deeply personal spaces—bedrooms or nurseries—where they feel at ease.

Shooting in their spaces, in their own beds, plays a crucial role in creating comfort. I choose film and cameras that show them in a way they find beautiful and empowering, emphasizing softness and warmth. It's a stark contrast to modern, hyper-detailed phone cameras that sometimes reveal more than one wants to see.

Your photography has a distinct emotional depth and texture. How do you approach the interplay of light, color, and composition to achieve this?

My process is highly intuitive. I’ve never formally studied photography or apprenticed under anyone—I learned by experimenting and seeing what felt right. It’s about trusting my instincts rather than adhering to rigid rules.

What role do personal experiences or cultural influences play in shaping the stories you tell through your images? Many of your photographs feel deeply narrative.

Growing up, I was surrounded by great cinematography. My grandmother had a TV, but my mom only brought home VHS tapes—films with substance. I think that exposure shaped how I see the world, how I approach subjects, and the narrative depth in my work.

What role does spontaneity play in your shoots? Do you leave room for improvisation, or is everything carefully planned?

To balance spontaneity and structure, I go in with a clear plan and strong direction, but I remain open to surprises. It’s about letting the subject feel like the shoot is about them, not me. That openness often leads to the most unexpected, meaningful moments.

What inspired the shoot with singer LIA LIA? How did it come together?

Collaborating with Ruby and Naomi always takes me out of my comfort zone in the best way. For this shoot, we wanted to transform someone with an iconic face but also someone like Lia—someone with a clear sense of self.

Giving her a completely new look was exciting; it brought an unexpected energy to the set. The approach was playful and experimental. The night before, I had no idea what wigs Ruby would bring or what colors Naomi might choose. It was a beautiful mix of spontaneity and collaboration.

What inspires you the most?

Movies and music are big inspirations for me, as well as the work of other photographers like Carlijn Jacobs, Harley Weir, Rineke Dijkstra, Charlotte Wales, and Nan Goldin.

What emotions or truths are the hardest for you to express through your art, and why?

I don’t think I consciously try to express specific emotions when I work. Instead, I follow what feels right in the moment—what draws me in or excites me that day. It’s less about a deliberate expression and more about letting intuition guide the way.

Art

Luna Luna: Surrealist Spectacle Lands in New York

November 21, 2024

In the 1980s, André Heller, an Austrian artist, singer-songwriter, and former actor, was looking for a new place to showcase his art. He had already taken to gardens, creating a colorful, surrealistic character using 40,000 flowers, and to the skies, organizing a 'fire theatre,' which involved an over-the-top fireworks show complete with steel-frame sculptures set on fire. But he had never tried out a fair.

So began "Luna Luna." Created as the world's first art carnival, "Luna Luna" combined the spectacular with the absurd, showcasing original rides and attractions from rising and already-at-the-top artists in Hamburg. Nearly forty years since its debut, followed by foiled plans for a worldwide tour, breached contracts, and 44 storage containers, the art fair has finally returned, calling New York home after re-debuting last year in Los Angeles.

By Hailey Johnson
Photography by Delvin Claro and Sabrina Sarnitz, courtesy of Luna Luna LLC

On a recent evening in Hudson Yards, a small carousel featured characters in quirky, Twister-like poses and an outstretched dog with seven legs. (Almost a century old, the rides are no longer rideable.) Goofy wooden sculptures were elevated in another corner, some of them cross-eyed or with a horn for a nose. A geodesic dome glowed, with Gregorian chants hovering somewhere above it.

"It's an art experience like no other," Michael Goldberg, Chief Experience Officer of Luna Luna, said recently. "People get to see artists do things they've never done before," he added.

Goldberg, founder of Something Special Studios, a creative agency behind many Nike campaigns, was determined to resurrect “Luna Luna” after reading about it online in 2019. Goldberg shopped for investors, eventually teaming up with DreamCrew, a media company co-owned by the rapper Drake. (Details on the company's investment remain vague; sources have reported that DreamCrew spent over "100 million dollars.") In 2022, an intensive restoration process began, with a team of artists reviving many of the original works, which had remained in boxes in a Texas warehouse for over thirty years. Several had been in pieces. (The team reportedly had to rebuild each work "bolt by bolt.")

That night, at the Shed, fourteen out of the original thirty-five works were on display, including the small carousel (Keith Haring), the goofy sculptures (Kenny Scharf), the neon dome (Salvador Dali), and a towering Ferris wheel decorated in drawings of stick figures, upside crowns, and references to Jim Crow (Basquiat). Missing works are in a "constant state of restoration," Goldberg said. Meanwhile, new attractions are joining the line-up. For the New York show, the Puerto Rican duo Poncilí Creación was commissioned to create "PonciliLand," a blink-and-you-miss-it section where guests "can create fantastical characters out of custom building blocks." Poncili also developed floating characters, inspired by performers who circulated the original “Luna Luna” fairgrounds in 1987. Known as "Lovers," the two characters, large and dreamlike, teetered to one side, mumbling the kind of nervous groans one does before a fall. (They never ended up falling.)

I asked Goldberg if, given that today's culture doesn't quite look or feel the same way as it did in 1987, there was any hesitation in showing some of the original works. On a back wall, a tribute featured Manfred Diex's "Palace of the Wind," a show featuring performers who fart into a microphone; on another, two ornate pedestals held sculptures of spiral poop.

"I don't see any reason why we wouldn't show any of these works," he said. "A lot of the time, art is exclusive and uninviting. The big difference between “Luna Luna” and other art experiences is that it has many sides to it, and things that have a bit of humor and playful energy. "As for "Palace of the Winds,” the decision to keep it was simple: farting is universal. He went on: "The “Crap Chancellery" is, conceptually, one of the most important works in “Luna Luna.” Daniel Spoerri's dad was killed in the Holocaust, and the work was inspired by Albert Speer, who was Hitler's architect. He took the facade of what was meant to be a Nazi shrine and turned it into the facade of a bathroom with two steaming statues of shit standing on the outside. These works are extremely important and are things that we would definitely want to honor and draw attention to."

As “Luna Luna” further develops, the show will likely change. "It will continue to evolve as we go to different cities in response to the spaces that we pop up into and in collaboration with the local city," Goldberg said." With it, there will be new characters and new stories to tell. One aspect that won't change, though, as Goldberg assured, is a long-held sentiment about a potential partnership. At one point, early on during the original “Luna Luna” era, McDonald's wanted to buy into it. Heller said no, adding that he "didn't want it to feel like Disneyland." Goldberg agreed. Nonetheless, as I watched Kenny Scharf's dizzying swing ride go around for what felt like the hundredth time, with the cartoon characters decorated on it blurring together (one with a villain's grin, another morphed into a martini glass), I couldn't help but feel like maybe I was at Disneyland, only not as robbed, but just as entertained and exhausted by its rides and fantastical characters, and wanting to go again.

Luna Luna, Hamburg, Germany, 1987.

Art

Pamela Sneed’s Speaking Tongue opens at Dashwood Projects

November 15, 2024

Pamela Sneed’s latest exhibition, Speaking Tongue, will be on view at Dashwood Projects from November 20 to December 21. The show features twenty watercolor and ink paintings inspired by her recent trip to Kenya, where she was deeply moved by the elegance of giraffes, the landscapes, and the energy of Nairobi.

Blending her background as a poet and visual artist, Sneed’s work reflects on themes of identity, nature, and connection. Her paintings capture the beauty and spirit of the animals she encountered, alongside reflections on her own experiences as part of the African diaspora.

This exhibition marks Sneed’s first solo show with Dashwood Projects and will be accompanied by a new book, also titled Speaking Tongue, to be released in December.