Destination Sculpture

Key West sculptor John Martini’s heady artwork resides along I-295 South, serving as a beacon to Grounds For Sculpture.

By: Megan Sullivan
   Grounds For Sculpture began its program Sculpture Along the Way in 1999 to herald the location of the sculpture park, as well as the arrival of the Hamilton Rail station. The partnership between GFS and local area businesses, government and private property owners in Hamilton has allowed for more than 20 sculptures to be placed in the surrounding community.
   By placing art outside the traditional context of a museum, these pieces are impossible to miss. It’s unlikely Hamilton residents will forget the first time they drove by a giant, 233-inch tall molar along Klockner Road (GFS founder J. Seward Johnson Jr.’s "The Tooth"). Nor will many forget the alarm they first experienced when they noticed a young girl in danger of riding her bike into the street in front of Hamilton Supply, before realizing she was cast in bronze (Mr. Johnson’s "First Ride").
   The most recent addition to the public art display is John Martini’s "Head2Head," a 30-foot tall and 27-foot long monumental sculpture installed along I-295 southbound (before exit 65B). Once again impossible to miss, there’s no doubt the large blue and red heads made of steel have caused some rubbernecking on the highway. But this piece is like a beacon, letting drivers know that there are many more sculptural treasures that lie just beyond the exit.
   "There’s a long-time tradition of sculpture that’s public, going back to ancient culture," says Mr. Martini, who lives and works in Key West, Fla., and Veuxhaulles-Sur-Aube, France. "Almost all cultures, back to prehistoric time, have had sculpture either for ceremonial, cultural or memorial purposes. It’s just an impulse."
   While Mr. Martini says public sculpture has been a notably large tradition in the United States, he says there also was a period in France during which many sculptures were commissioned for the sides of highways.
   "The idea is that the highway is like the old city squares where you often had city sculpture," Mr. Martini says. In placing art where people work and live, however, there is always some form of opposition generated. "Any piece of public sculpture is going to encounter a certain amount of controversy," he says. "People either come to terms with it or don’t."
   "Head2Head" started as a small maquette Mr. Martini made in his usual style. Known for his figurative works, Mr. Martini often makes his pieces from sheets of scrap metal and uses a cutting torch to cut out silhouette forms of people or animals. His work brings to mind Haitian folk art, as well as ancient Etruscan pieces. "I went through a very classical period," he says, "and I think at this stage I’m trying to morph all my elements into my own style."
   The Sculpture Foundation for GFS commissioned "Head2Head" based on some previous works Mr. Martini had made and Johnson Atelier collaborated with him to produce "Head2Head."
   "It was quite an engineering feat to produce it," Mr. Martini says. "They took the models, we decided on the size they were going to be and then they produced a large drawing on many sheets of paper, exactly the size of the piece." After Mr. Martini made some adjustments to the drawings (from a ladder), the piece was made by the Atelier crew by layering two identical pieces of steel, almost like a sandwich. "It was built almost like a high-rise building," he says.
   Afterward, the sculpture was brushed with solid enamel colors of red and blue. Through use of the cutting torch in his pieces, Mr. Martini often allows the intense heat to scorch the paint, leaving a dark edge where the steel is exposed. With "Head2Head," the steel was welded, plasma cut and painted black around the rim to create the same effect. "It was very exciting," Mr. Martini recalls. "It was slightly intimidating to consider, but as it went along, I realized it was going to work and was very pleased with the outcome."
   The production of the large piece took about a year, but it took six years of negotiation to install it at its present location. GFS director and curator Brooke Barrie and GFS project manager Bruce Daniels were largely responsible for contacting the numerous controlling agencies for this public art project. Through the joint partnership of Hamilton Township and the approval and permits received by the New Jersey Department of Transportation and the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection, the piece was set for installation by the Atelier.
   Aside from "Head2Head," Grounds For Sculpture owns three of Mr. Martini’s pieces, including "The Couple," which was installed in 1999. Mr. Martini also had a solo exhibit at GFS last summer.
   Although Mr. Martini has been making sculpture for more than 30 years, he has no formal education in sculpture. He received a bachelor’s degree in sociology from St. Francis College in Pennsylvania and never took a basic art course there. "For some reason, I was just drawn to making sculpture," he says. "I essentially created my own course in art."
   Mr. Martini spends a good part of each year in museums, studying different periods of sculpture along with his partner, photographer Carol Munder, who interprets sculpture through photography. "We started with 18th century French and essentially have gone backwards," Mr. Martini says. "From there we went to Roman to Greek to Etruscan to early Oriental and we’re just about back to prehistoric at this point. We basically pick a period and visit as many museums as we can."
   After a celebratory martini reception April 27 at GFS in honor of "Head2Head," Mr. Martini spent a few days visiting his family in Bergen County where he grew up, and in New York to visit museums including the Guggenheim and Whitney museums in Manhattan and the Brooklyn Museum. After a couple of weeks in Key West, he and Ms. Munder will return to France. Mr. Martini says he usually spends about five months each year in France, and has two exhibitions there next year to prepare for.
   About 12 years ago, Mr. Martini had his first exhibition in Paris and when he realized he could continue exhibiting there, he decided to find a second studio. "It’s almost too hot (in Key West) in the summertime to do too much work," he says. "France has become a very important part of my life."
   Mr. Martini’s sculptures are shown internationally in galleries and museums, including Lucky Street Gallery in Key West, the Lowe Gallery in Atlanta, Ga., and Santa Monica, Calif., the Shidoni Annual in New Mexico and Galerie Antoine Laurentin in Paris. His works are also in many private and public collections. A few of his pieces can be seen on MTV’s The Real World: Key West.
Grounds For Sculpture is located at 18 Fairgrounds Road, Hamilton. Weekend drop-in tours are offered through October, Sat. 11 a.m., Sun. 2 p.m. Self-guided tour maps of the grounds and exhibition catalogs are available at the admissions desk. Hours: Tues.-Sun. 10 a.m.-8 p.m. Admission: Tues.-Thurs. $5, $4 seniors/students, $1 under age 13; Fri.-Sat. $8, $7 seniors/students, $4 under age 13; Sun. $12. Members free. For information, call (609) 586-0616. Grounds For Sculpture on the Web: www.groundsforsculpture.org. John Martini on the Web: www.johnmartini.com