One of the earliest works in Ms. Martin's Whitney retrospective is a wall
sculpture made of planks pierced with
rusted iron boat spikes set in a grid formation.
Although often mistaken for accumulations of found objects, his
sculptures are instead made of «brand new stuff» — materials such as wood,
rusted iron, cotton, paper, and mud — that he intentionally subjects to processes of weathering, burning, oxidation, and decay.