John Martin is a graduate of the San Francisco Art Institute, where he studied under the tutelage of Richard Diebenkorn, the famous Abstract Expressionist. John studied art at an exciting time when the "Bay Area Figurative Movement" was prevalent. John's oeuvre consists of figurative, biomorphic forms, and mid to later works of Abstract Expressionism, which also includes color-field painting, geometric abstraction, and aerial landscapes. John, like his mentor Richard Diebenkorn, vacillated between figurative abstraction and abstract expressionism, the latter being the main emphasis of his work from the mid 1980's to present. John discovered that the spontaneous and subconscious nature of abstract expressionism coupled with the absence of figures, best put forth the story of his euphoric and at other times turbulent life. John's work is not political, nor does it represent any opinion with regard to social events, but is merely emotionally driven with a tremendous influence of nature, both in its subject matter and palette.