MARTIN WHATSON

NORWAY

BIOGRAPHY

Martin Whatson (b. 1984) is a Norwegian born and based stencil artist. While studying Art and Graphic design at Westerdals School of Communication, Oslo, he discovered stencils and the urban art scene. He had been interested in Graffiti for years, following the development within street art closely. In 2004 he started his own artistic production.

Martin has a continuous urge to search for beauty in what is commonly dismissed as ugly, out of style or simply left behind. He looks for inspirations in city landscapes and old soon to be demolished buildings. This interest for decay has helped develop his style, motives and composition and he enjoys creating either unity or conflict between materials and motives; a wrinkled old lady on a shiny plate of aluminum. His artistic expression started off more political, inspired by DOLK and Banksy, but has developed into a more subtle expression. His stencils are a mix of urban scenes with a poetic, hippyish make peace not war-message. He has a cheerful, very much recognizable and almost feminine touch; butterflies, doves and hearts in soft, nonetheless vibrant, colours. Still, his expression is very much masculine, filled with in your face-statements that represents a young and vigorous group of upcoming artists. Since his artistic debut in 2006, he has had several solo exhibitions and participated in numerous group shows.