Melvin Martínez
Born in 1976 in San Juan, Puerto Rico; lives & works in San Juan.
(Profile picture: Ashley Camacho)
ARTIST STATEMENT
Melvin Martínez makes paintings that bring affect to the brink of autopoiesis. In a deluge of color and application that vibrates as if sonic, his works occupy oil, acrylic, glitter, confetti and decorative craft materials beyond ontological loyalties. The paintings renegotiate Martinez's debt to the optics of Pointillism, anarchy of Abstract Expressionism, resplendence of color field painting or embodied summons of gestural abstraction. They are free agents across time and consequence, expanding a living art ecology rather than terminated art histories. Martinez negates indebtedness by re-imagining the currency of creative capital.
EDUCATION
2005
School of Fine Arts, Bachelor of Fine Arts in Painting, San Juan, Puerto Rico.
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2016
Silvestres. Universidad Sagrado Corazón. San Juan, Puerto Rico.
Martinez Shop. Madrid XF proyectos. Madrid, Spain.
2013
All Inclusive!, David Castillo Gallery, Miami, FL
Mucho Gustó, Casa Mauuad, Mexico City, Mexico.
2011
The Material, Trailer Park Projects, San Juan, Puerto Rico.
2010
Melvin Martinez, Flying Circus Gallery, Mexico City, Mexico.
2008
Melvin Martinez: Demo-Gracias, Wolfsonian Museum, Miami Beach, FL.
2007
Fresh Paint, Yvon Lambert Gallery, New York, NY.
2006
Melvin Martinez, Cultural Institute of National Gallery of Art, San Juan, Puerto Rico
Melvin Martinez, Alcorcon Art Center, Madrid, Spain.
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2016
There Was No Joy in the Brilliance of Sunshine, Efrain Lopez Gallery, Chicago, IL.
Material Art Fair, Efrain Lopez Gallery, Mexico City, MX,
2015
Benefit auction for Museum of Art Puerto Rico. Untitled, 2015.
Frescos: Ciudadanos de Ninguna Parte (5 años después). Galería Arte Universidad Sagrado Corazón. San Juan, Puerto Rico.
2014
Calibán, Museo de Arte Contemporáneo, San Juan, PR
2013
Puerta al Paisaje, Museo de Arte Contemporáneo, San Juan, PR
On Painting: Prácticas pictóricas actuales... más allá de la pintura o más acá, Centro Atlántico de Arte Moderno, Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Spain
2012
Dark Flow Lurking, David Castillo Gallery, Miami, FL
2011
Global Caribbean, Museum of Contemporary Art, San Juan, Puerto Rico
2010
Spirit of an Epoch, Museum of International Contemporary Art, Lanzarote, Spain.
Group Show, Flying Circus Gallery, Mexico.
Global Caribbean, Musee International Des Arts Modestes, Sete, France.
2009
Global Caribbean, Haitian Cultural Art Center, Miami, FL.
2008
Nature Morte, Rohrer Fine Art, Laguna Beach, CA.
Expanded Painting, Space Other Gallery, Boston, MA.
2006
Tribute to Cezanne, Yvon Lambert Gallery, New York, NY.
Group Exhibition, Alcorcon Art Center, Madrid, Spain.
Kitsch Utopia, 2006 Quadriennale, Dusseldorf, Germany.
2005
Graduate Exhibition for School of Fine Arts, San Juan, Puerto Rico, Museum of the Americas, Denver, CO.
VI National Prize of Fine Arts, Museum of Contemporary Art Puerto Rico.
Espai D’Art Contemporani, Castellón, Spain.
AWARDS
2006
International Association of Art Critics Prize for Outstanding Representation of Puerto Rico
2005
Castellón County Council Painting Prize, Spain.
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
"Watchlist Artist: Melvin Martinez," Art Slant Miami, November 2, 2013.
Antawan, Byrd. Art Cities of the Future: 21st-Century Avant-Gardes. Australia: Phaidon, 2013.
Alvarez Lezama, Manuel. "The Way In - Contemporary Art in Puerto Rico." Arte Al Dia, No. 140, November 2012.
Stain, David Joshua, “Hot new things to do in Puerto Rico,” CNN, April 2012.
Schwabsky, Barry, “Material Sensations and the Artificial Flesh of Color,” Art Pulse, 2011.
Schwendener, Martha, “Melvin Martinez at Fresh Paint,” The New York Times, June 22, 2007.
Robinson, Walter, “Puerto Rican Sun,” Artnet, April 12, 2007.
Panera, Javier, “Melvin Matinez: Painting as libidinal mechanism,” Art.es, No. 17, September 2006.
“Melvin Martinez: Kitsch, cosmography and frost,” Art Premium, Vol. 3, March 2006.
“Melvin Martinez: Awarded 60,000 Euros, First place at Second Annual Castellon International Painting Prize,” Tema Celeste, February 2006.
“Wonderland/El Pais de las Maravillas, Certamen Internacional de Pintura de Castellon,” Arte.es, #12, Feburary 2006.
Schwabsky, Barry, “When is a painting not a painting?” Modern Painters, December 2005.
“Painting Prize Winner,” Art Nexus, December 2005.
“Un lio con la pintura en Castellon,” El Pais, Spain, November 20, 2005.
“Puertorican Artist Melvin Martinez wins painting prize,” Levantate, Valencia, October 2005.
“More than 200 paintings competed,” El Periodico Mediterraneo, October 8, 2005.
Pau-Llosa, Ricardo, “Melvin Martinez,” Arte al Dia Internacional, May 2005.
SELECTED COLLECTIONS
Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin, Ireland.
Museo de Bellas Artes, Castellón, Spain.
Espai D’Art Contemporani, Castellón, Spain.
Museum Collection Lambert, Avignon, France.
Museum of Ponce, Puerto Rico.
Museum of Contemporary Art, Puerto Rico.
Valencia Arte Contemporáneo, Valencia, Spain.
Harn Museum of Art, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL.
Palm Springs Art Museum, Palm Springs, CA.
The Rubell Family Collection.
Carlos & Rosa de la Cruz Collection.