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It's art baby, art!
Artist Martin Richman: illuminating the world with light
Based in Hackney Wick, Martin has an impressive body of work, with several pieces
permanently installed here in East London. I first came across his work at Hackney Wicked
11 years ago where an illuminated ladder captivated me. I loved the impossibleness of it –
like Oppenheim’s ‘Fur Breakfast’ - as well as its beauty. The interview below is but a glimpse
of his extraordinary career...
How did you get into using light
as a medium?
I think I was always interested in
light, reflection and colour. As a
child I was always fooling around
with stuff and once took the ink
tube from a ballpoint pen and
stuck it up the kitchen tap to see
what would happen. Later that
day, my mother was doing the
wash and everything was turning
blue. Assuming the plumbing was
faulty she called the plumber and I
remember her shouting down the
phone, rather frantically! Around
the age of 13, I started playing
around with coloured lights in my
bedroom, but I was also interested
in music and by the age of 16 I’d
saved up for a drum kit and joined
a band, but soon discovered that I
couldn’t actually play. At the time,
lots of musicians were doing light
shows as part of their gig, so I
started doing lightshows for the
band.
18 LOVEEAST
Did you go to art school?
Yes - I went to Portsmouth
College of Art but left before
finishing, rather unceremoniously.
An opportunity arose to create
window displays for John Lewis
and Liberty's and from there I got
into exhibition and theatre design,
which I did for several years.
Eventually, I ended up getting back
into music lighting, initially as a
technician and later as a lighting
designer, and worked with Chris
de Burgh, Mike Oldfield,, Pink
Floyd, Jimi Hendrix, the Velvet
Underground and many others for
a number of years. Eventually, the
rock and roll lifestyle of touring and
all that goes with it didn’t fit in with
family life so I began painting, using
lots of glazes, so light was always
a part of anything I made, in one
form or another.
About that time, I applied to
Central Saint Martins as a mature
student and began to develop
‘light sculptures’ using light as a
source rather than depicting it in a
painting.
What is it about light that
intrigues you?
I’m fascinated by light’s ability
to change one’s perception of a
space, and I’m also intrigued by
spaces in and of themselves and
how they affect people's behaviour.
For example, when you enter a
grand space, you conduct yourself
differently than, say, when you are
in your home or walking down the
street. When you enter a church,
it’s almost a physical feeling of
quiet, which affects your sense of
yourself and how you respond and
react. You find yourself speaking in
hushed tones and perhaps move
about more slowly. So using light
and space are ways of creating
a mood. Also, using light as a
medium provides the impetus to