Móyòsóré Martins | Watchman

In Martins’ newest series, this fusion reaches a new clarity. His deepening synthesis of traditional cultural iconography with a passion for urban contemporary designer toys and pop figures further defines The Watchman as a singular, evolving presence. Rendered in his unmistakable graphic language, layered oil impasto, and raw mixed media surfaces, The Watchman becomes not just an icon, but a reflection of the artist’s own transformation—gritty, mythic, and unmistakably his own.

The Watchman Character: In African culture, the watchman is oft depicted as a sculpture of a seated figure who observes, protects, and learns-an archetype deeply rooted in tradition and symbolism. For Moyo, this character is more than just a cultural motif; it is a recurring theme and a central figure that weaves through the narrative of his work. The watchman evolves alongside Moyo's artistic journey, serving as both a literal and metaphorical representation of his personal growth and perspective.

When Moyo first arrived in New York, he worked as a night watchman in the Bronx-a role that directly ties his life experience to the watchman character. Over time, as his work has evolved, the watchman has been reinterpreted and transformed, reflecting Moyo's changing understanding of himself, his art, and his role as an observer, protector, and chronicler of life's truths. This enduring theme underscores his connection to his African heritage while highlighting his ability to adapt and reinterpret traditional symbols in a contemporary context. 

Móyòsóré Martins, a self-taught mixed-media artist, uses his art to express his innately curious and spiritual nature. Raised in Lagos, Nigeria by a Brazilian father and a Nigerian mother from Ekiti state, Martins began using a paintbrush and pencil at a young age. He combines his traditional Yoruba cultural roots with a contemporary vision to create artwork that blends figurative, abstract, and narrative elements drawn from his unique life experience, including his journey from Nigeria to his Bronx studio.

Martins’s deeply symbolic artwork frequently features cultural and personal iconography, reflecting his life experience. His paintings are richly textured and use bold brushstrokes, thick oil paint, drawings, scribbles, collaged materials, and text. The vibrant, heavily layered canvases often include spiritual elements and wishes manifested and fulfilled. In addition to painting, Martins also creates three-dimensional art through using found objects and mixed media. As Martins describes:

My artwork is intentionally raw. I like to use a lot of different materials and have rough-cut edges on the canvas. The paintings are textured with scratches, scribbles, and mud-like paint, as well as clay, liquid plastic, oil sticks, chunky layers of oil paint. I layer the background and then deconstruct them, which gives the feeling of wear and tear on the canvas. No painting is alike as each has symbolic patterns and encrypted messages hidden within it. I want to merge the vision with the given and the new world that I live in now. The word “Why?” is seen in a lot of the work because

it leaves you asking the same question. 

Forbidden by his father to create or study art, Martins spent his college years in Ghana and the Ivory Coast studying computer science. He immigrated to New York City in 2015 to pursue his artistic ambitions. Martins’ artwork has been exhibited at the Nassau County Museum (Roslyn, NY), TrafficArts (New York, NY), Long-Sharp Gallery (Indiannapolis, IN), Robert Fontaine Gallery (Miami), Path Gallery (Los Angeles, CA), Galerie Tanit (Beirut), and Crossing Art (New York, NY).

In Moyosore Martins’ work, the figure is never just a figure. It is an echo, a symbol, a vessel. His signature character, The Watchman, has followed him across borders and bodies of work—rooted in Yoruba culture and traditional African sculpture, yet constantly evolving as it absorbs the pulse of the present. 

Martins’ Watchman stands not only as a guardian, but as an archetype: a deeply resonant form that speaks to collective memory and inherited spirit. It connects to the carved ancestral figures found in shrines and rituals across West Africa, yet also finds unexpected kinship in the hyper-stylized pop figures of artists like KAWS. These influences, seemingly worlds apart, converge in Martins’ visual universe, where sacred tradition meets urban mythology. 

Since relocating to New York, Martins has absorbed the aesthetics of contemporary urban culture and art—designer toys, graffiti, the gloss and grit of global pop iconography. Rather than reject or imitate, he fuses these with his own cultural language, producing richly textured works layered in oil impasto and mixed media. The result is a body of work that is both reverent and rebellious—icons not inherited, but invented. 

In The Watchman, we witness Martins creating his own mythology—an evolving character that functions as a modern-day relic, expressing Martins’ own story and inner struggle, transformation, and has rendered in a visual language that is unmistakably his own. Through these archetypes, Martins offers us a new kind of spiritual architecture—one built from memory, migration, and the alchemy of cultural collision. 

Archetypes are universally recognizable characters, symbols, or patterns that show up across cultures, myths, stories, and art. The term comes from the Greek words archein (to begin) and typos (type or pattern), and it often refers to a kind of original model that others are based on. 

There are two main ways the word is used:

1. Psychological / Mythological (Carl Jung’s definition):

Archetypes are primordial images or unconscious symbols shared by all humans. They come from the “collective unconscious” and shape how we experience the world. Examples include: The Hero; The Mother; The Trickster; The Sage; The Shadow. 

These figures aren’t always literal characters—they can be expressed in dreams, myths, religions, art, or cultural rituals.

2. Cultural / Artistic use:

In a broader sense, archetypes are iconic types or motifs that reappear in different times and places. For example:

• A mask used in tribal ceremony may represent the Protector archetype 

• A modern superhero is often a version of the Hero archetype 

• A recurring artistic figure, like Moyo’s Watchman, can become a personal or cultural archetype

Why it’s a powerful exhibition title: 

Using Archetypes as a title reflects the artist’s deep, timeless themes—figures and forms that carry meaning across generations, even as they’re reimagined in new ways.

The Watchman Character: In African culture, the watchman is oft depicted as a sculpture of a seated figure who observes, protects, and learns-an archetype deeply rooted in tradition and symbolism. For Moyo, this character is more than just a cultural motif; it is a recurring theme and a central figure that weaves through the narrative of his work. The watchman evolves alongside Moyo's artistic journey, serving as both a literal and metaphorical representation of his personal growth and perspective.

When Moyo first arrived in New York, he worked as a night watchman in the Bronx-a role that directly ties his life experience to the watchman character. Over time, as his work has evolved, the watchman has been reinterpreted and transformed, reflecting Moyo's changing understanding of himself, his art, and his role as an observer, protector, and chronicler of life's truths. This enduring theme underscores his connection to his African heritage while highlighting his ability to adapt and reinterpret traditional symbols in a contemporary context. 

The Mouth: Represents the voices of people discussing him and his work.

The Eye: Symbolizes the all-seeing eye, imbued with spiritual significance.

The Yellow Googly Eyes: Represent people seeing his work and his increasing visibility. Over time, the eyes grow larger, signifying his growing recognition. 

1986: His birth year, which he incorporates into his art to infuse his identity and presence. 

The Ladder: Because you can't avoid the process. 

The Cat: Represents resilience, echoing the idea of having nine lives to survive. 

The Hungry Cat: Embodies a hunger for life and success. The sharper the teeth, the hungrier the cat. 

The Pigeon: A symbol of freedom and independent thought. 

The Cow: Represents the creation of life, which is cyclical. The cow consumes, digests and fertilize the new creation. 

The Farm: A symbol of creation and sustenance. 

The Stick Figure Inside an Animal: Reflects Moyo's subconscious mind. 

"Why?": Encourages viewers to question and engage deeply with his work. 

The House: Represents the comfort zone. 

Flames Emerging from the House: A warning to get out of your comfort zone. 

Roman Numerals: Symbolic of time. 

OK Hand Sign: Represents limited time. 

Blue Stripes on Clothing: Symbolize the higher caste of African seers, such as the Yoruba family Moyo comes from. The stripes also reflect life's duality, representing two-way roads or paths.