Lives and works in Berkshire, UK
Martinez’s style has arrived at a point reminiscent of the ‘harmonious contradictions’ described in Damian Bayon’s La construcción de lo visual (The construction of the visual). First of all, such conflicts reverberate to the core of Martinez’s art and can be observed in the work’s ambiguous relation to the act of pictorial representation. The urge to describe actual topographies, as well the minutia of urban landscape is tempted by a desire to plunge into realms of unbridled abstraction. The resulting juncture is a place where reality and the phenomenological subjectivity of perception are unified. The metaphor of ‘contradiction’ is further subverted when we consider contradictions that are implicit in the 21st century’s idea of metropolis since it beginning. Furthermore, a place where opportunity and hopelessness, abundant wealth and crushing poverty exist side-by-side in harmony, while appearing to teeter on the brink of chaos.
“I use layers of colors as a metaphor for memories, to evoke them through perception. The tradition of modernity that promises a better future it’s an unfinished project, the modernism didn’t reach its full ideal, but it did reach a peak on literature and architecture. This is how I see my city Caracas and others, in a constant confrontation between order and chaos, confrontation between lack of planning, modernism, utopias, nostalgia.” Cipriano Martinez at Pinta 2013
Solo Exhibitions
2018
Displacement, Maddox Arts, London, UK
2015
Woven Cities, A project in collaboration with Vanderhurd Studio, Maddox Arts, London, UK
Máculas Ortogonales, Galeria Beatriz Gil, Caracas, Venezuela
2013
Prueba de Color, Fundacion Cultural Chacao, La Caja, Caracas, Venezuela
2012
Destructive Testing, Maddox Arts, London, UK
2010
Serial Reconstructions, South Hill Park, UK Dislocations, Maddox Arts, London, UK
2009
Caracas Espectral, Sala Mendoza, Caracas, Venezuela
2007
Visiting Cards “Landscapes”, Bolivar Hall, London, UK
2006
“El Orden desde adentro” Pages Espai d’Art, Barcelona, Spain
2001
Bolívar Hall, London, UK
1999
Galería Luis Adelantado, Valencia, Spain
1998
Museo del Oeste Jacobo Borges, Caracas, Venezuela
Group Exhibitions
2018
Winter Show, Maddox Arts, London, UK
2017
Spring Exhibition, Maddox Arts, London, UK
Art Marbella, Marbella, Spain
2016
Indian Summer, Maddox Arts, London, UK
2015
Weight for the Showing: Curated by Paul Carey-Kent, Maddox Arts, London, UK
2014
Degrees of Separation, Maddox Arts, London, UK Pinta Art Fair, London, UK
Punto de Quiebre, 16 Ensayos Latinoamericanos, Galería Beatriz Gil, Caracas, Venezuela
2011
Once Tipos Del 11, Sala Mendoza, Caracas, Venezuela
Press
