Times Square Arts Presents Shantell Martin's LINES OF MARS For February Midnight Moment

Times Square Arts, the largest public platform for contemporary performance and visual arts, is pleased to present Lines of Mars by artist Shantell Martin, which will be on view for the month of February as part of the organization's Midnight Moment series. Midnight Moment is the world's largest, longest-running digital art exhibition, synchronized on electronic billboards throughout Times Square nightly from 11:57pm to midnight. Lines of Mars will be on view February 1 - February 29.

Lines of Mars (2019), created by Martin for Midnight Moment, features her improvisational illustrations and text appearing and disappearing, line by line, on a black background. Drawn on a digital tablet, the work features many of Martin's recurring motifs, including faces, stick figures, and "birds boats" over an ocean, interspersed with hand-written words. Continuing the artist's exploration of self that runs throughout her work, Lines of Mars asks the age-old question "who are you?" Those three words are repeated and reconfigured to finally conclude that "you are you." This encouragement to viewers to think individualistically both participates in and counters the mass-messaging of advertisements otherwise seen on the electronic billboards of Times Square.

Lines of Mars references multiple aspects of Times Square, including a staircase reminiscent of the Red Steps; "1904," the year Times Square was named; and "12," a reference to the end time of Midnight Moment or the beginning of a new year. Presented during the month of Love in Times Square, the work encourages viewers to understand, to be, and to love their true selves.

"I wanted to create a piece that explored the use of lines and words in a simple way to ask a complicated question. Asking this in a place like Times Square helps the question grow," said artist Shantell Martin.

Shantell Martin's drawings have appeared on everything from Japanese nightclub stages - where she collaborated with noise musicians as a video jockey - to canvases, large-scale murals, cars, and apparel. With a meditative process defined by an uninhibited flow, her compositions embody her internal state and the impermanence of the world around her. Exploring themes of identity and intersectionality, Martin sees herself as a cultural facilitator, forging new connections between fine art, education, design, philosophy, and technology. Below the surface of her signature black and white line drawings is an artist's playful, direct questioning of viewers, rearranging words such as "you," "are," and "who" to create new meanings and spark reflection.

Lines of Mars is courtesy the artist and is presented by Times Square Arts. Lines of Mars was arranged and formatted for Midnight Moment by Optical Animal.

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