Peter Michael Martin's Corporeal Visions: Love, Death, and Democracy in Moby-Dick

Moby-Dick has been the near-exclusive focus of artist Peter Michael Martin's prolific output-in woodblock print, papercut, sculpture, and photograph-over the past decade. By examining Martin's depictions of bodies-in isolation, in pairs, in collectives-this essay pro-vides a primer on Martin's recent works. The essay begins by considering Martin's portraits of Ishmael, Queequeg, and Ahab in two series of black -and-white photographs, Altered Visions and Call me Ahab. Altered Visions illustrates the union of Queequeg and Ishmael as their embrace transcends physical and social divisions. Call Me Ahab, conversely, emphasizes Ahab's solitude, as he communes only with the naught beyond (Melville 159). Juxtaposing scenes of intimacy with emblems of death, these works consider the body as a site of both connection and isolation, friendship and subjugation. The second half of this essay discusses two of Martin's larger-scale works (the mixed-media assemblage Trumped Up Optimism and the woodblock print Above the Rest), designed for display in public spaces. These works depict bodies en masse as deindividuated crowds under the control of a sole leader, recasting the social visions of Ishmael and Ahab as a conflict between democracy and totalitarianism. Ultimately, I argue, in the nude form, Martin finds an allegory for artistic vulnerability, which enables the radical self-expression Melville champions through Ishmael. Thus, in his depictions of bodies, Martin probes tensions between individual and collective agency and advances Melvillean vulnerability as a strategy for social transformation.

Automated summary

This essay examines the depictions of bodies in artist Peter Michael Martin's recent works, focusing on his woodblock prints, papercuts, sculptures, and photographs. Through analyzing Martin's portraits of individuals and collectives, the essay probes the tensions between connection and isolation, friendship and subjugation. The essay also discusses Martin's larger-scale works designed for public spaces, which reframe the social visions of Ishmael and Ahab as conflicts between democracy and totalitarianism. In addition, the essay argues that Martin's use of the nude form represents artistic vulnerability and aligns with Melville's emphasis on radical self-expression for social transformation.