Eddie Martinez
Nomader
September 12–October 25, 2014
Kohn Gallery
1227 N. Highland Avenue
Los Angeles, CA 90038
Kohn Gallery is pleased to present Nomader, an exhibition of new paintings, sculpture, and works on paper by New York-based artist Eddie Martinez, on view September 12 through October 25. This will be the artist’s first solo show in Los Angeles and at the Kohn Gallery. His work was most recently seen in London at the Saatchi Gallery’s exhibition Body Language (November 2013–March 2014).
Martinez draws his inspiration from a wide range of sources, spanning from the ever-evolving landscape of the city to major art historical movements of the 20th century such as Abstract Expressionism, CoBrA, Neo-Expressionism, and Surrealism. An immediacy and physicality inhabit this work thanks to Martinez’s simultaneously gritty and graceful visual language. It’s a remarkably strong, muscular type of painting resulting from the influences of urban culture and the unrestrained emotionality of the modern masters.
Martinez’s work pushes the boundaries of what constitutes painting and, specifically, what comprises art. Traditional oil paint mixes with spray paint and the detritus of the studio: baby wipes, paper towels and gum wrappers are conspicuous in the textured landscape of these paintings. Vibrant color and expressive lines join together and dance around the composition, emitting a confident and powerful energy. Like the work of Philip Guston, Willem de Kooning, and Asger Jorn, pure abstraction and representation co- exist on the canvas, continuously giving way to each other and contributing to the overall power that is inherent in these paintings. This deft balance looks even further into art history as it recalls the carnal primitivism of the turn of the century’s avant-garde, and the graceful lyricism of the Abstract Expressionists.
Recent investigations have led Martinez to both small and large-scale abstract sculpture, made mostly from found materials including rubber hoses, Styrofoam, cardboard, and metal scraps sourced from wherever the artist is working at the time: Greenpoint and Bedford Stuyvesant in Brooklyn, or East Hampton and the North Fork in Long Island. In fact, all the work for this exhibition, Nomader, was made across these four different studios. The exhibition title is not only referential to his current art practice, but also autobiographical. Growing up, Martinez moved quite frequently and even lost his belongings on multiple occasions. Nomadism worked its way into the artist’s practice, informing the rich materiality and musculature of his work. This influence fueled an indefatigable evolution in the artist’s practice—a perpetual striving and searching that pushes the work against boundaries and convention.
