Julian Martin

Julian Martin (born 1950, Oran, Algeria), is a noted author, critic, philosopher and journalist based in Paris, France. His nearly three decades of deep cover work as a war correspondent has taken him to the heart of a great many global conflicts, and his associated investigative work and social commentary has been published worldwide. Martin has lived in a dozen countries and has worked in nearly one hundred.

A trained painter and printmaker, Martin’s preoccupation with the written word eventually overwhelmed his other callings and art criticism and analysis became his primary focus. Martin has published numerous treatises on visual art both contemporary and historical. Of Sephardic Jewish decent, Martin was in Israel researching religious symbolism in pre-Christian art forms when the bombing of a neighborhood coffee house quite nearly claimed his life. This profound event changed the course of Martins’s work with focus of his study migrating from art to war. His reports and essays often originate from global “hot spots”, and his first hand experience in conflict zones coupled with his unbiased, nearly artistic analysis of current events define both the man and the circumstance.

Martin who works under numerous pseudonyms, is known to have published two opposing opinion points under two different monikers simultaneously in a single journal. His work leans toward philosophical analysis in many cases versus pure, unbiased reportage, and for this reason Martin, who has on occasion taken his own critical blows from purist colleagues, has become known as both a maverick and a recluse. Martin, who personally refuses either accolade or classification, considers his constant reinvention part of his personal creative process and evolution, and one’s personal evolution an integral component in the evolution of mankind.

Martin’s passion for art has not ebbed under the weight of other callings. At home in Paris and in all his travels, Martin considers the experience of art both relief and duty. He was one of the first to not only report on the looting of significant collections in various conflict zones, but also to discuss the social, historical and cultural impact of such actions on the populace. Martin’s meticulous research and analysis on this topic has helped to frame the debate regarding a concise, worldwide policy regarding the archiving, documentation and protection of artistic and historical attributes in varying political and cultural climates.

Martin also remains active as a critic and philosopher, regularly publishing various viewpoints under a variety of pseudonyms. However, his personal advocacies are on occasion revealed: Martin has stated, “In the quest for the modern Utopia, art has become nature.” Thus Martin dedicates himself to an ideal and works toward it diligently, believing that art – his own, and the work of others – has the potential to improve the individual and collective human experience.

Martin continually puts his life at risk to expose, to share, to unite, to dismantle, to inform. A survivor, Martin throws himself into the heart of war in hopes that war may someday cease to exist. He says, “I have been some of the worst places on this earth, and have never failed to witness some measure of human kindness. It is everywhere. It is our truest nature.”

External links

* [http://www.j-martin.org j-martin.org]
* [http://www.http://www.undevoir.org/ undevoir.org]