Joris Martens lives and works in a forest in Flanders, Belgium where he investigates the fluid identity of nature and man. He practices visual storytelling with emotional impact to induce empathy. His work is included in international art collections, counting the MoMa Museum of Modern Art in New York and the Plantin Moretus Museum in Antwerp.

Joris Martens works with various media, the core of which is drawing. Lithography is his favorite medium for advanced mark making. By drawing and printing, he evokes seemingly effortless day to day life’s mute complexity. Furthermore his works on paper give birth to paintings, wall paintings, glass objects, installations, animation films..but also to industrial products and designs as printed textiles, woven textiles and wallpapers. Joris Martens’ integrity, versatility and professionalism often brings him to Finland, Sweden, Italy, the Netherlands, Germany, France, China, Japan.. He speaks more than a handful of languages out of love to understand, meet and help people.

Joris Martens is looking for a deeper experience and consciousness in which communication and unison is central. Drawing is a way for Joris Martens to be present in the moment and to record the experience at the same time, disregarding existing conventions. Works on paper are in his view tools to reach the other: The viewer becomes a participant within an architecture or play of internalization and is invited to give meaning. Change is continuous..

Joris Martens is a visual artist, designer, and writer whose work unfolds at the intersection of space, movement, and ecology. Guided by the belief that art can create spaces for encounter, care, and imagination, he explores how relationships emerge between people, stories, images, and landscapes.

Nature is a central source of inspiration in his practice—not merely as a subject, but as a way of thinking about form, rhythm, transformation, and interconnectedness. Inspired by natural processes and principles of *design by nature*, Martens investigates how ecosystems can offer new perspectives on human relationships, communities, and ways of living together.

Drawing lies at the heart of his practice. For Joris Martens, drawing is both a way of being present in the moment and of recording experience. From the drawn line emerge works that evolve into lithographs, watercolours, textiles, installations, and design projects. He regards works on paper as tools for reaching the other: open spaces in which viewers are invited to bring their own memories, experiences, and interpretations.

Printmaking occupies a special place within his work. He sees reproducibility not merely as a technical quality, but as a form of sharing and communication. Repetition, movement, and transformation are recurring principles throughout his practice. Images migrate between different media and contexts, generating new connections and layers of meaning.

At the core of Joris Martens’ work is a search for intimacy. His artworks invite attentive encounters and create room for personal interpretation. Themes such as care, desire, identity, transformation, and belonging run through both his visual and literary work.

Moving fluidly between art, design, and social contexts, Martens sees art not as a separate domain but as a way of making space: on paper, through language, and between people. Spaces where new forms of encounter, imagination, and connection can emerge. 

Curriculum Vitae