Critically acclaimed Avant Garde painter and singer/songwriter Marta Gottfried Wiley has created thousands of paintings and written over 2,000 songs (over 100 albums). She has had top-published posters grossing millions of dollars in sales over the last 15 years for publishing houses around the world (of which she has received few revenues). In 2005, Marta launched her own publishing companies where all revenues of her art and music go to charity foundations. Unbound by any medium, Marta is also a talented sculptor, fashion designer, model, poet, and author (soon to be publishing her first book, The Ring of Light, based upon her experiences with Carlos Castaneda). Currently, Marta is painting a full catalog of 2,000 paintings while launching her new publishing company, www.martawiley.com. Few artists and musicians will ever achieve such feats, and Marta is barely in the prime of her career!
It all began for her at the age of two, when Marta was first taught to paint by her grandmother. By the age of nine, Marta began attending Magnet Schools for the Arts where she continued her art education, studying art and music nine hours a day. At 16, Marta had her heart broken for the first time. The event sparked so much anger and grief in her that she ran to the store and bought her first real canvas and, without thought, she channeled her emotions through the paintbrush and created her first masterpiece: God yelling out all of his memories. As the painting unfolded, she realized she had encapsulated a small piece of God's soul. For the first time she felt in control of capturing essence within paint. Never had she painted what was coming out of her soul so thoroughly. No longer feeling pain or agony from the heartbreak, Marta felt great ecstasy from painting her emotions. Realizing its great therapeutic power, Marta began making it work for her rather than it being a duty. She also painted her entire room: one wall with a mural of a forest, a big lady with black hair and eyes the size of Marta's head was facing the observer singing, and on another wall she painted a black box to represent the great void of the unknown. The force of normal life 'freed' her to become the painter she is now, because it had become all about the expression.
Her artistic talents exploded. Using mixed media, Marta then created a series of 30 paintings of a woman in chaos touching the eye of God and then twirling around in bliss. In 1990, Marta entered the Miss Billy Moore Beauty Pageant, and she credits her win of both Miss Congeniality and Miss Billy Moore to that series of painting-video multimedia, which was one of the truest expressions of herself. With an incredible momentum now behind her, Marta was also awarded a full scholarship to the Otis Parson's School of Design in Los Angeles, where she majored in Art History and Painting with minors in Shock Art and Music. At the Age of 21, Marta painted her masterpiece the Lepa Zena. The Lepa Zena is a top seller in China, where the horse symbolizes success, money, luck, and glory. Surprisingly, its success has been parallel with China's ascent to Super Power.
Marta had also begun writing and recording music by age of twelve, and has an eclectic, Avant Garde style that ranges 'from Kate Bush to Pink Floyd', as well as many other Alternative Rock icons of our time. Marta plays guitar, bass, drums, piano and cello and has written, recorded and produced over 100 albums which represent and explore what she has called "The Female Archetypes". Her eclectic musical style and idiosyncratic vocal style have made her one of the most successful solo female recording artists. From the early stages of her musical career, she gained a reputation for her determination to have a say in decisions affecting her work. She has since recorded many controversial albums such as Mechanical Heart, Red Honey, Witch Hunt and 80 other albums that did not fit the cookie-cutter agenda of the record labels. "I left the flaws in my music on purpose, no one got that, I liked the emotional response that you get from the flaw."
Avoiding exhausting music tours, Marta focused her energies on being involved in every aspect of subject matter and content, singing about the environment, women's issues, children's rights and animal protection. Marta disliked the exposure and the celebrity lifestyle associated with promotional work, given that her main priorities have always been painting and making music. As she continues her work, Marta is becoming a legend and a pioneer of the feminine perspective of the world. By experimenting with sounds and production techniques, she creates albums that feature a diverse blend of musical styles known for their near-exhaustive use of spontaneity. With so much over production, Marta is a pioneer of a new sound, with uncompromising ability to achieve authenticity. (Marta has been building her private studio over the last 15 years, where she purposely records on old microphones and broken-down guitars to continue that edgy sound that she is has coined.) Through the brilliance of keeping the flaw in the music, Marta examines feelings of self-doubt versus burning self-confidence and the search for a balance between the two. Marta moves from the light to the dark in the need to acknowledge and express the darker and light sides of one's personality within the greater context of maintaining an open mind. Her records are full of raw, emotive songs recounting her religious upbringing, sexual awakening, and her struggle to establish her identity and her sexuality.
In 2005, Marta released Kill With A Look, Raising Holy Hell and Amnesia, reclaiming the independent spirit once again as the songs were licensed to movies and television shows around the world and continue to be played on international radio stations. These particular releases are considered by many reviewers to be her masterpieces. No less experimental than previous albums, her eclectic musical style and idiosyncratic vocal style is refreshing from a production standpoint. Marta has created many concept albums exploring her alter ego as a femme fatal. Growing up in a very Protestant Christian traditional environment Marta admits, "I'm really just a kitten, but I found a lion in my alter ego". Finding that her alter ego could take the mass pornography, masochism, homophobia, sexism, ageism and misogyny in the U.S. better than a frail sensitive artist.
The increasingly personal tone of her writing continues with songs about unexpressed and unrequited love; the pressures on modern relationships and self-doubt; the interfaces with parental comfort and control; and about a woman who dances with the whimsical magic of the imagination in the real world. Many of her songs have a melodramatic and melancholic emotional and musical surrealism that defies easy categorization. The word "original" comes to mind. It has been observed that even the more joyous pieces are often tinged with traces of melancholy, and even the most sorrowful pieces have elements of vitality struggling against all that would oppress her. Marta is not afraid to tackle sensitive and taboo subjects. Her lyrics have referenced a wide array of subject matter, often relatively obscure which has influenced the gothic nature of several of her songs.
Marta Wiley is compared to other individualistic female singer/songwriters such as Kate Bush, Bjork, Tori Amos and Madonna. The New York Times describes that Marta "creates impressively to the emotions raging furiously around her" (2006).
The iconoclastic Marta Wiley has been declared by Rolling Stones Magazine to be "fucking brilliant" and magazines and reviews around the world have labeled her "a true original" by the Music and Art Industry standards (2007). Marta remains in the center of media attention with full rights to her music, in doing so Marta provides an example of how to maintain one's career in the entertainment industry.
Wow--just read your bio, & though I knew you're talented I didn't realize you were so prolific! Hope to meet you & the AZ crew someday, hopefully in this life.
Hi Marta!.... and thanks for posting your song!.... you have a beautiful, evocative voice..... wishing you every success and sending you love'n'light.... and bright blessings!.... Arunx
I like your style, you have good melody and interesting lyrics.....like a familiar dream, when we sailed the canals of Atlantis......i hope you go far:)
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