Drawings and photos
My Art works
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ABOUT THE ARTIST
BIOGRAPHY
Martin is a multi-disciplinary artist. He studied sculpture at Rocston studios in Lusaka Zambia. He has a masters degree in fine art from the ecole cantonale d'art du valais in Switzerland. He lives and works in Conthey Switzerland. At present his works range from drawings , photography, instalations, animation, sculpture and video.
Lives and works in Conthey, Switzerland
Education
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09-11 Master in Visual Arts MAPS, ECAV, Sierre
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05-07 Master of Art in the Public Sphere, postgrade, ECAV, Sierre
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02-05 Bachelor In fine Arts , ECAV, Sierre
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94-00 Rockston Studios, Lusaka, Zambia
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PRIZES AND RESIDENCIES
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2015 Rhizomes poétiques Sion, Switzerland
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2013 Insaka International Artists Workshop, Livingstone, Zambie
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2010 Bourse d’encouragement à la création de l’état du Valais
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2006 Prix d'encouragement de la Chambre Immobilère du Valais
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05-06 Atelier Tremplin à la Ferme Asile à Sion
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2005 Prix d'encouragement de la fondation BEA pour jeunes artistes
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98-99 Bourse pour une année d'échange culturel à Champungu Sculpture Park à Harare, Embassade de Finlande, Lusaka
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1998 Finalist pour le prix du meilleur sculpteur, National Arts Council Ngoma awards, Zambie
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97 Nominé pour the Sculpture Award dans "The Times of Zambia Edition"
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EXHIBITIONS (selection)
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2016 Henry Tayali Gallery Lusaka, Zambia
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2016 Galerie la treille Sion Switzerland
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2016 Lefkada, Greece
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2016 Zone 30 Public Art Sierre Switzerland
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2015 Rhizome poétiques Sion, Switzerland
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2013 Open Show Switzerland
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2013 10 ans fondation BEA, Ferme asile, Sion
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2013 Insaka, Livingstone, Zambie
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2012 Money, Young Art Brig
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2011 Kunstatelier Wallis, Berlin
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2011 Miniworks, Berlin
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2011 Kunstraum Schillerpalais, Berlin
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2011 Galerie Placette.de, Berlin
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2011 Nacht und Nebel, Berlin
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2011 BIS, Ferme asile, Sion
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2010 Galerie Analix, Genève
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2010 Galerie Zur Matze, Brig
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2009 Berlin Art Tower, exposition internationale, Berlin
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2009 Residue, Galerie TPTP, Montmartre, Paris
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2009 FOCUS09, exposition internationale durant Art Basel, Bâle
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2009 Galerie Hohlraum, Bâle
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2008 Performance, Resonanzraum Project, Dachstock, Berne
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2008 Fertiles Différences, Galerie Analix, Genève
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2007 Ferme Asile, Sion
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2007 Expo de diplôme MAPS, Les Halles, Sierre
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2006 Re-enactment, Galerie Lokaal 01, Anvers
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2006 10 ans de la Ferme Asile, Sion
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05 Les Halles, Les Ailes, Sierre
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2002 10th Anniversary Madison Insurance Exhibition, Lusaka
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2002 Sun International Exhibition, Livingstone
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2001 Taking Art To The Public. Solar Eclipse Exhibition, Lusaka
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1999 Mbile International Artists Exhibition, Lusaka Museum
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1999 Braziers, international artists workshop, UK
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1999 Thaphong international artist workshop, Mahalapye, Botswana
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1999 Erbert Foundation, Lusaka
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1997 Annual Wild Life Exhibition, Pamodzi Hotel, Lusaka
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1997 Baobab Trust School end of year fund-raising, Lusaka
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1996 Academy without walls, Lusaka
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1995 Mbile international workshop, Siavonga , Zambia
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1973 Born in Luanshya Zambia
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About Drawings
Martin Chanda’s work attempts to reveal and explore the unseen and overlooked. There is a distinct nature of hybridity on his works and his themes, as he incorporates elements of drawing, photography and sculpture. The choice of materials serves to reinforce his exploration of the tension between reality and fantasy as he probes ideas of nature vs. technology and seems to challenge some of our proposed accepted ideas of good and bad in a subtly humorous and ironic way.
In his works using detailed photos of common garden weeds they are at first glance a call to appreciate an overlooked beauty. These small icons of the commonplace are highlighted to show their intricacy and perfection. Yet they go beyond mere horticultural studies by the manipulation of the backgrounds into a flat, deep black, highlighting the flowers in a way that they become somewhere between otherworldly and menacing. Layered around these images are intricate drawings of a fantasy world, as if he was showing us what we are otherwise missing by putting it under a microscope. Unveiled for us is an odd, decaying world of Cyborg Locusts, broken pieces of generic technological gadgets, patterns and abstracted shapes that recall cityscapes, dense forests, ribcages and worms.
Like so much flotsam of a modern culture returning to a nature that common sense tells us it has irrevocably harmed. Yet in Martin’s world everything is slightly twisted and magical and you imagine these jumbled broken pieces as something enchanted or possiblyeven beneficial. Dominated by the nearly oppressive and glaringly healthy weeds we might start to question what is a natural balance, and how much is going on that is out of our sight and control? What at first glance seems a Dystopian junkyard of built-in obsolescence slowly morphs into a play with decay as beauty, images of death and renewal and a nearly psychedelic magical realism.
By Jessica Powers
