Shifting Sands 

​Original acrylic on canvas 30"x40" Private Cient 
in a bespoke handmade frame by QED.

Field Justice


​Original acrylic on canvas 30"x40" President of the Law Society 
in a bespoke handmade frame by QED.

TALKS AND CONFERENCES 

​Martin frequently presents at conferences, corporate events, Universities and at charitable foundations in the UK and further afield.  Depending on the audience his talks often cover his journey to the easel from senior Army Officer to an exhibiting and commissioned artist selling his work worldwide.  He has also appeared on the Radio 4 today programme with Martha Kearney, Channel 4 news and been featured in a number of magazines.

Talks have included, The Royal Institute of General Practitioners, Royal Institute of Psychiatry, Museum of the Mind, Roche, Clifford Chance, Supporting Wounded Veterans, Help for Heroes, and keynote guest speaker at the 7th International Compassionate Mind Conference.

If you would like to arrange a talk then please get in touch. 

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GET IN Touch

RUSSELL & BROMLEY COLLABORATION

​RUSSELL & BROMLEY commissioned Martin to reimagine a pair of their Italian shoes for a London Exhibition in Pall Mall.

With a free choice it was quite a bold move to paint a perfectly good pair of luxury leather shoes which were also deliberately in his size!!!  Entitled "Walk in my Shoes" the meaning behind the creation is below for those who missed the exhibition first time around.

"When I was a child my Father told me that you could tell a lot about a man by his shoes.  At first it seemed like some mystical power or a secret I was being let in on, yet it was just a simple belief that you could see elements of a man's character in both the type of shoes he chose to wear and how well they were polished.

Ironically as the youngest son it often fell on me to polish his shoes before black tie dinners etc. but I took pride in that and, in so doing, I took his teaching to have a much wider application than just a gauge for assessing someone's business acumen, professionalism and trustworthiness.  I found that shoes had the potential to communicate messages far beyond their simple humble function.  This was very much in the forefront of my mind in creating this work.  

Walking in somebody else's shoes is often used as a metaphor to describe empathy.  With this work I invite the viewer to "walk in my shoes".  They are not brightly polished; rather they are industrially agricultural, covered as they are in battered armour plate crudely riveted in place.  The armour is heavy and welded deep into my tissue having grown thicker and more impenetrable from repeated life and combat trauma.  

It is an armour that attempts to protect the inner-self from any further suffering.  It seeks to protect from judgement, criticism and the toxicity of shame.  It seeks respite from the symptoms of Complex PTSD as armour becomes the most vital survival tool for the traumatised mind.  Yet herein lies the paradox; whilst the armour promotes a feeling of safety through a total disconnection from the outside world, this disconnection pulls us away from the very thing we truly need, namely, a sense of safeness and wellbeing through a sincere engagement with each other and our shared common humanity.  In other words, finding a connection, finding your tribe and finding love is the antidote to a life lived behind heavy armour, isolation and shame. 

The nails symbolise the pain of stepping into my shoes.  Once behind my armour, with a sense of empathy, you will truly walk in my shoes.  And, in this space and in this moment, I wonder if in reality your shoes are actually any different to mine?

So was my Father right?  I think highly polished shoes are the real armour - a mask preventing a deeper insight.  Only when you really see the scars from lived experience can you tell a lot about a man.  Trouble is we are all too busy applying polish upon polish to hide things too painful to show.  Through this work, I've stripped away the polish, to show the real me ... just human with the strength to be vulnerable."

Martin Wade