It’s carnival time in Portland, a time to reflect on peculiarity and marvel at the bizarre. The tiny upstairs gallery space at Land on North Mississippi Street is prepared for the unveiling of Emily Martin’s newest collection of art.
If the dog-faced boy doesn’t have you looking behind you on the dark walk home, maybe one of the carnival-themed dolls with their beady little eyes will awaken you from your dreams.
Martin must get most of her carnie fascination from an upbringing in the south. As we westerners know, a true carnival is a hard thing to find. A graduate of the University of Georgia, Martin savored the arts and picked up painting, her current trade. With a healthy impulse for the quaint, Martin migrated to Portland where she has since been able to awaken the stranger side to her work.
The Black Apple is the online alias of Martin, who has become something of a celebrity on etsy.com. Martin was, at one point, the online store’s biggest seller, which landed her a spot on Martha Stewart Living teaching the world how to make her now famous Black Apple dolls. The store also brought her praise from New York Times Magazine, as well as getting her voted Venus Zine‘s Best Indie Business in 2007.
These days, Martin is kept busy with her collection of masterpieces, slowly building up an arsenal to unveil at the right moment. Inside a Black Apple is Martin’s blog, which is haven for Martin’s small base of devoted fans.
Much of her painted work has a similar look. All of the characters fall into the genre of oddity and seem to almost be a population of people and things that inhabit another universe entirely. Oddfellow’s Orphanage is a collection of portrait paintings of fake beings within a fake orphanage.
The description of the past show reads, “Through the Ordinary Forest, on the outskirts of Milkland, there stands a grand home for orphaned and wayward boys and girls, as well as other creatures in need of a roof over their head.” It’s this sort of thing that makes Martin immensely appealing and refreshing within a society of artists constantly trying to shock and awe.
Intellectual titillation will not be on display anytime soon with a Martin signature at the bottom corner, but this doesn’t diminish the rewards of the far-off lands her craft will take you to. Lost on the Midway is Martin’s newest exhibit featuring characters inspired by all things carnival.
Named after Martin’s favorite Tom Waits song, Lost on the Midway is an occasion for the Portland art world, which is rarely seen. The muted colorings of seemingly historical portraits are a thrill to discover, not to mention the free cotton candy.