Martin Sharp

Martin Sharp (born 1942) is an Australian artist, underground cartoonist, songwriter and film-maker. Sharp has made tremendous contributions to Australian and international culture since the early 60s, and is hailed as Australia's foremost pop artist.

His famous psychedelic posters of Bob Dylan, Donovan and others, rank as classics of the genre, alongside the work of Rick Griffin, Hapshash and the Coloured Coat and Milton Glaser. His covers, cartoons and illustrations were a central feature of Oz magazine, both in Australia and in London. Martin also co-wrote one of Cream's most famous songs, "Tales of Brave Ulysses", and in the 1970s, he became a champion of singer Tiny Tim, and of Sydney's embattled Luna Park.

Martin was born in Sydney in 1942, and was educated at Cranbrook private school, where one of his teachers was the noted artist Justin O'Brien. In 1960, Martin enrolled at the National Art School at East Sydney, where he began his artistic career contributing to the short-lived student magazine The Arty Wild Oat, along with fellow artists Garry Shead and John Firth Smith. He also submitted cartoons to The Bulletin. In 1961, he enrolled for two terms in Architecture at Sydney University before returning to the NAS.

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