Artist Statement

I see my recent work as an amalgamation of many things; decorative elements, patterns in nature, the sensibilities of the Baroque, and a range of twentieth century painterly approaches . The idea of the hybrid, taking whatever elements are useful from many things and then combining them to make something new, is essential to me. I want to create collisions between visual languages generally not seen together. These shaped and stretched canvases I make employ a baroque approach in their blatant sensuality of form, artifice, and the pleasure of color.

I am after a kind of painting that is multi-linguistic, that can reconcile contradictory visual information, oppositional aesthetics and retain them as distinct things at the same time. The spatial information is ambiguous, as the paintings evoke atmospheric spaces in some places, while in others they are covered with marks that make issue of the flatness of the canvas. The simplified baroque shapes of the canvases emphasize their physical presence and assert themselves as sculptural objects, yet they are still paintings. They make issue of the tension between surface and illusion. They are primarily abstract, though not purely.

Ultimately I am interested in making paintings that are unusual, and ambiguous in some way, yet ultra-beautiful and familiar at the same time.

EDUCATION

2001 MFA, University of California, Davis.
1998 BFA, Southern Oregon University, Ashland, Or.

SELECTED SOLO & TWO PERSON EXHIBITIONS

2005 Richard Martinez, New Work, Jay Jay Gallery, Sacramento, Ca.
2005 Richard Martinez, Work on Paper, Thorndike Gallery, Center for the Visual Arts, Ashland, Or.
2004 New Painters in San Antonio, Ricky Armendariz & Richard Martinez, Rrose Amarillo Gallery, San Antonio, Tx.
2003 New Work, Richard Martinez, Butters Gallery Ltd., Portland, Or.
2003 Strange Pleasures: Paintings by Richard Martinez, Davis and Cline Gallery, Ashland, Or.
2002 Richard Martinez, New Paintings, Thorndike Gallery, Center for the Visual Arts, Ashland, Or.

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2005 Texas Biennial 2005, Camp Fig, Austin, Tx.
2005 San Antonio Painting 2005, Curated by Bill Fitzbibbons, Blue Star Contemporary Art Center, San Antonio, Tx.
2005 Home in San Antone, New Braunfels Museum of Art & Music, New Braunfels, Tx.
2004 XII Biennial Faculty Exhibition, University of Texas at San Antonio Art Gallery.
2004 Arte Contemporaneo, Centro Cultural Aztlan, San Antonio, Tx.
2003 Oregon Biennial 2003, Portland Art Museum. Juror; Bruce Guenther, Chief Curator and Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art, Portland Art Museum.
2003 Art Faculty Exhibit, Schneider Museum of Art, Southern Oregon University, Ashland.
2003 Art from the Heart, University Art Gallery, Sonoma State University, Ca.
2002 Gallery Artists, Aguirre Gallery, San Mateo, Ca.
2001 Present/Tense, University Art Gallery, Sonoma State University, Ca.
2001 Comers up and..., Jay Jay Gallery, Sacramento, Ca.
2001 Master of Fine Arts Exhibition, Richard L. Nelson Gallery, University of California, Davis.
2000 72nd Crocker-Kingsley Biennial, Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento, Ca. Juror; Karen Tsujimoto, Senior Curator, Oakland Museum of California.
2000 The Minds Eye, Memorial Union Gallery, University of California, Davis.
2000 The Fortune Cookie Show, Center for Contemporary Art, Sacramento, Ca.
1999 Introductions, Basement Gallery, University of California, Davis.
1999 Keep This Copy For Your Records, Memorial Union Gallery, University of California, Davis.
1998 Alumni Show, Stevenson Union Gallery, Southern Oregon University.
1998 Rick Martinez & Walter Peterson, SU Gallery, Ashland, Or.
1997 New Paintings by Rick Martinez, Garo’s, Ashland, Or.

TEACHING EXPERIENCE

2004 - current: Assistant Professor of Art, University of Texas at San Antonio, Department of Art & Art History
2001- 2004: Adjunct Faculty, Southern Oregon University, Art Department, Ashland, Or.

GRANTS, AWARDS & HONORS

2005 Juror’s Award, Texas Biennial, Austin, Tx.
2003 Juror’s Award, Oregon Biennial 2003, Portland Art Museum.
1999 - 2001 University Grant, University of California, Davis.
1999 - 2001 Teaching Fellowship, Teaching Assistantship, University of California, Davis. Department of Art & Art History.
2000 Merit Award, 72nd Crocker-Kingsley Biennial. Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento, Ca.

CATALOGUES

2005 Texas Biennial, 2005, Camp Fig, Austin, Tx.
2003 Oregon Biennial 2003, Portland Art Museum.
2000 72nd Crocker-Kingsley Biennial, Crocker Art Museum. Sacramento, Ca.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

2005 Jeanne Claire van Ryzin, “Brushed with greatness, Texas Biennial: 36 artists, 5 galleries, one blockbuster?”, Austin American-Statesman, March 8.
2004 Dan R. Goddard, “From Western sunsets to Baroque influences”, San Antonio Express-News, August 11.
2004 Elaine Wolff, “To CAM or CAB”, San Antonio Current, August 5, 2004.
2003 Bruce Guenther, “Oregon Biennial 2003” , catalogue. Portland Art Museum.
2003 Ike Apodaca, “Richard Martinez, Artist, Feature Profile”. Oye Tu.
2003 Bob Keefer, “Art of Small Things”, Eugene Register Guard.
2003 Jeff Jahn, “Critical i, Special Edition, 2003 Oregon Biennial”, The NW Drizzle.
2001 Victoria Dalkey, “Newcomers shine in summer shows,” Sacramento Bee.
2001 Spring Warren, “MFA Show at Richard Nelson Gallery,” Davis Enterprise.
2001 Lisa Tamiris Becker, “Seven, 2001,” Catalogue essay for Richard Nelson Gallery.
2000 Clair St. John, “Minds Eye at MU Gallery,” California Aggie.
1999 Anjali Asrani, “Artists explore concepts of copying in exhibit,” California Aggie.
1999 Sheryl Tuttle, “Race Gender, & Ethnicity in Art,” Video taped studio interview. Southern Oregon University Art History Department.