Eddie Martinez

Martinez is best known for his large-scale wall works incorporating figuration and abstraction, painting and drawing, which foreground his signature muscular brushwork. The artist frequently places his forms and figures against monochrome backgrounds that serve to delineate and emphasise his urgent strokes. His paintings incorporate bold contours through the combination of mediums such as oil, enamel, and spray paint, and often include collaged found objects. Martinez additionally utilises these scavenged objects in the construction of three-dimensional works, combining and casting them in bronze. The resulting sculptures recall the exuberant forms that dominate his canvases.

Martinez’s practice draws from a deep understanding of painting’s histories, and his pieces are dense with references to canonical artworks as well as those with personal relevance. Many of the artist’s works recall CoBrA and action painting, while others signal to the ominously cartoonish late-career work of Philip Guston. New York Times’ critic Roberta Smith has described his style as “a kind of updated, liberated Neo-Expressionism.” 

Martinez’s work has been the subject of solo exhibitions at institutions including Parrish Art Museum, Water Mill; Space K, Seoul (both 2024); Yuz Museum, Shanghai; Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit (both 2019); The Bronx Museum, New York (2018); The Drawing Center, New York; and Davis Museum at Wellesley College (both 2017). 

The artist participated in the 60th International Art Exhibition – La Biennale di Venezia (2024). Martinez’s works are in the permanent collections of The Bronx Museum of the Arts; Davis Museum at Wellesley College; Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanas City; La Colección, Mexico City; Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Marciano Collection, Los Angeles; Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth; The Morgan Library & Museum, New York; Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid; Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid; National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Philadelphia; Pérez Art Museum, Miami; RISD Museum, Providence; and Saatchi Gallery, London, among others.