Let’s Meet: Herbert Martel
An Instagram filled with a number of young, versatile, and influential artists morphed into his image with some dulcet, and some grungy brush strokes. I watch as his feed begins to be transformed into this prolific and vibrant art gallery made to his own image. No idea emerges over the horizon of his creativity without abandoning its old composition for a new, fresh structure.
“I like bending thing; I don’t like normal things, they’re boring."
Herbert Martel was born and raised in San Salvador, El Salvador up until he was 10 when he moved to Houston, Tx. 16 now, Herb began studying the fashion and art industry a year ago. As he explains to me via text on who he is I grasp his unobtrusive personality when he isn’t expressing himself through his digital images. This is simply because every piece he does has some sort of personal, hidden message behind it. Whether he is doing grungy vectors of musicians or giving rough sketches of dogs, each photo has one reason that links back to his personal life on why he made it to begin with. His art has been acknowledged by names such as Bodega Bamz and Suicide Boyz. Herb speaks on his influences with me:
“I have no role models because I don’t want to be like anyone. I want people to want to be like me. I want people to look up to me and see me as an authority but at the same time see me as their friend, you know?
School has helped me a lot for me to become who I am. Teachers tell me that I’m going to be an engineer and stuff like that but when I tell them [I don’t want to be], they tell me I should get [other] goals and that motivates me to prove them that anything is possible”
His art; it’s… different. It’s dirty, it’s uneven, at times; it’s very odd. Sometimes, I scroll down his feed and have no idea what message he is trying to get across. He draws rough outlines of faces, and musicians (some with their eyes cut out), he sketches over newspapers with modern events. It’s just very confusing, but in a good way. He’s a quite a guy, there’s a lot to figure out about him and being that he has no influences… what is his drive?
“To be honest man, the only reason why I make art is because I’m sad… I’ve kind of dropped hints on this before but I don’t care anymore. I’m [sad] because of people… the way people are, you know? I hate how [everybody] is negative towards [each other] and it makes me sad knowing that’s our generation… I’ve never made art that symbolizes sadness I make art o make myself and everyone else happy...”
Herb's Instagram: martelherbert@
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