Art Schop

Brooklyn's Art Schop is the solo project of contemporary rock musician Martin G. Walker. Exploring historical and modern ideas, Art Schop's music is skillfully crafted with earnest consonance and poetic lyricism that inspire people to see the world in new ways. Art Schop in his own words:

Contemporary rock musician.

Explorer of ideas. 

Bearer of beautiful, uncomfortable truths.

Does it matter who I am, what else I do or have done? Art Schop’s music could exist suspended in an anonymous vacuum, like a satellite floating in the void. But some people wish to know about the artist, refract the listening experience through the prism of the meta-story. So, here it is:

In the midst of recording his first studio album, 'nylon,' Martin G. Walker began work on a separate and completely different project -- songs exploring philosophical, psychological, historical themes. Incorporating snippets of found sound from around New York, and exploring how the recording process itself could become part of the art.  This project took Walker outside himself. The music, it seemed, was passing through him not emanating from him.  A song about the imagined inner life of Arthur Schopenhauer prompted the adoption of the moniker Art Schop.

Born in the UK, Walker studied Physics at the University of Oxford, where he learned that he would not be a physicist -- there were others better suited to that pursuit. Later, as a computer consultant, he learned that neither was he suited to the world of business and commerce. He began writing music.

After reading Schopenhauer’s “World as Will and Representation,” Walker developed an original philosophical theory that connects the universal laws governing the physical world with the foundation of human morality and the meaning of life. Which resulted in the book: “Life: Why We Exist And What We Must Do To Survive.” This philosophy informs Walker’s life and art, and, in particular, pulses through the latest album Starguide. Walker has also written fiction for adults and children.

Walker moved to New York after watching Sonic Youth videos on MTV in London. He lives in Brooklyn.

The Art Schop albums "Death Waits I" and "Death Waits II" were recorded over the course of several years in collaboration with the musical genius Jimi Zhivago. Jimi sadly passed away in November 2018. Jimi was a loyal friend and tireless musical partner. He will be very greatly missed.