Aaron âAngry Woebotsâ Martin aka âWoes Martinâ was born on the Hawaiian Island of Oahu, but spent most of his childhood growing up in Southern California then moving to Nevada before finally landing back into Hawaii during his Junior year in high school. It was during this time, he got into graffiti through hip hop culture saturday morning cartoons, kung fu and comic books always had him involved in creating in some way.
In 1998 while a car accident changed everything; this life-threatening experience inspired him to leave the island once again, this time to Seattle, Washington discovering a new art movement that involved hip hop, punk rock, skating, graffiti, toys and design inspired him to create again. Engulfed by this new movement, Aaron followed along and was hooked. He then left back to Hawaii with a new perspective.
He had his first show in 2002 and has been showing in galleries across the United States, Southeast Asia, South Pacific and Europe. Appeared in many publications within the Art, Designer Toy and Hip Hop communities expanding his fan base even more. Aaron has worked with many companies involving designer toys, design and live works- Kidrobot, Disney/Mindstyle, Kampeon, Converse Red, Samsung, Kicks Hawaii, Fitted Hawaii, FLABSLAB Singapore and In4mation to name a few.
In recent heâs been going back to painting walls using aerosol, rollers and house paint. In recent heâs been involved with, Hieneken Mural Project, Richmond Virginia Mural Project, Artbasel Miami, Art Slam San Antonio Texas and in his home town Honolulu Hawaii PowWow Hawaii. Painting on a larger scale more for the public eye and more to showcase the process of creating a piece of work from the bottom to the top.
Along with his travel success his long time passion for toys has given him the opportunity to create his own, whether it be KidRobots Dunny platform or his own resin sculpture with his partner Palmetto of Silent Stage Gallery heâs covered grounds on all ends, you can find him at Comicon San Diego, Comicon New York, Designer Con Pasadena, Singapore Toy Con rocking custom vinyl toys, Resin figures and collaborations . His focal medium is acrylic paintings on wood and canvas. Using minimal colors and detailed character design, these paintings are usually comprised of stressed out emotional, aggravated pandas or bears. The pandas tend to represent the story of struggle, humble beginnings, and rolling with the punches. Hawaii to the mainland U.S. and across the globe he continues to leave his mark, connecting with other artist and other cultures has been his recent focus, experiencing life to the fullest and building on a worldwide plane.
âAngry Woebots was never a name, itâs a weird name lol, it was a concept of what I created, concept of my art, from the car accident until now, from being in a dark place and coming out of the situation ready to change the negatives in my life, slammed into metal actually woke me up. Doing art was the doorway , Iâll keep going as far as I can. If opportunityâs stopped right now, Iâd still be stoked on how far Iâve gotten. I have close homies across the planet, my neighborhood is deep. I never expected to get this far 13 years deep, it was hardly ever about the money, money is great but I look at it as a means of building bridges, travel & culture. Iâm on some Anthony Bourdain slash Jacque Cousteau steez. haha. I grew up watching Jacque Cousteau documentaryâs and reading libraries of my grandpas national geographic. I loved doing shows because of meeting other artist once I got the formula of travel thatâs when all that childhood experiences with my grandpa kicked in. It all came hand in hand watching him paint and create shit then watching all those shows with him I can paint and use my art to travel. Itâs a great thing.â âAlmost sixteen years in the game since the car accident, crazy. I got the coolest fans, big ups respect.â
