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Leslie Martinez
The Cave of Turning Space
2024
Canvas scraps, used terrycloth studio rags, used studio clothing, polyester sewing threads, rolled canvas tubes, paint chips, modeling paste, acrylic paint on canvas
approx. 60 x 75 x 5 in.
Courtesy of the artist and Commonwealth and Council. Photo by Paul Salveson.
Martinez is a contemporary artist whose abstract paintings deconstruct binary concepts through non-traditional structures and vibrant colors. Born near the U.S.-Mexico border in the Rio Grande Valley, Martinez grew up in Dallas and earned a BFA at The Cooper Union in 2008 and MFA at Yale in 2018, returning to Dallas in 2019. Their work as a graphic designer in New York for retailers like Forever 21, Target, and The Gap, which entailed creating graphic treatments for garments, influenced the evolution of their artwork. Their paintings are known for a cosmic palette based on the CMYK (Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and Black) color model.
Martinez is represented by Commonwealth and Council and James Cope Gallery. They have been widely exhibited, including at the Museum of Modern Art PS1, New York; Commonwealth and Council, Los Angeles; the Blaffer Museum, Houston; and others. Their work can be found in the permanent collections of the Pérez Art Museum, Miami; the Dallas Museum of Art; the High Museum of Art, Atlanta; the Speed Art Museum, Louisville; the Los Angeles County Museum of Art; and the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, among others. In 2022, they were the recipient of the Latinx Artist Fellowship. Read more
Martinez is represented by Commonwealth and Council and James Cope Gallery. They have been widely exhibited, including at the Museum of Modern Art PS1, New York; Commonwealth and Council, Los Angeles; the Blaffer Museum, Houston; and others. Their work can be found in the permanent collections of the Pérez Art Museum, Miami; the Dallas Museum of Art; the High Museum of Art, Atlanta; the Speed Art Museum, Louisville; the Los Angeles County Museum of Art; and the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, among others. In 2022, they were the recipient of the Latinx Artist Fellowship. Read more
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