Bio - Myk (Michael Martin)

Born in Kent and now based in East Sussex, I’ve journeyed from humble beginnings to European entrepreneur — and now, professional artist. My path has been one of discovery, from rural fields to international boardrooms, meeting thousands of people along the way.

At school, my dream of working in design for Saatchi & Saatchi was cut short. I was told to give up Art to become Head Boy — so I swapped the paintbrush for Law and Politics. It proved to be a good decision, leading me to build a trusted, market-leading logistics business, always putting people at the heart of what I did.

My dyslexia, discovered later in life, became my superpower. I see people not for their positions or part they play, but for the people they are - the emotions and needs that connect us all. I’ve always been drawn to patterns, relationships, and the invisible threads that bind people and organisations — insights that now shape the stories in my art.

In the latter years of my business career, I began swapping meetings for art lessons. I trained classically for four years, mastering the disciplined drawing methods of Charles Bargue and the oil techniques of the old masters. Alongside this, I explored the raw emotion of Expressionism and the bold, gritty energy of urban art — often trading brushes for rollers and oils for spray cans. The result is my own visual language — Statement Art — where classical skill meets a modern twist and emotional truth.

I now paint full-time from Myks.Studio — a studio, gallery, and meeting place set in a historic Sussex barn. It’s a space where I answer to no board members, only the work — surrounded by calm, space, and memory, not far from where I began.

I paint to reflect the stories people hold — the faces, emotions, and quiet moments of everyday life that connect us. My work is bold and layered, because life is. Every face holds more than one truth, and every layer reveals something beneath the surface.