Oil, enamel, acrylic, spray paint on canvas

101.5 × 76.2 cm. 40 × 30 in.

Signed in English and dated on the reverse stretcher; signed and titled in English, dated on the reverse
PROVENANCE
Mitchell-Innes & Nash Gallery, New York
25 Nov 2019, Phillips Hong Kong Autumn Auction, Lot 117
Acquired directly by present important private Asian collector from the above

Note: A label of Mitchell-Innes & Nash Gallery, New York is affixed on the reverse

Life Momentum from an Immense Ocean that Allows Fish to Leap at Liberty
An Artistic Rhapsody from Eddie Martinez

American artist Eddie Martinez was born in 1977 to Hispanic parents, grew up in Brooklyn, New York, where he taught himself art, and in recent years has attracted a great deal of attention as someone who appeared out of nowhere in the contemporary art world. In 2019, the artist's works sold for over HKD10 million on the secondary market and in the five years since then Martinez has held major solo exhibitions at the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit, Yuz Museum Shanghai, Perrotin and Blum & Poe Gallery in Los Angeles. In addition, while his works have been collected by Abu-Ghazaleh Intellectual Property AGIP, the London advertising magnate-owned Saatchi Collection and the most important private modern art collection in Latin America La Colección Júmex, they have also been favoured by a new generation of young collectors such as Asian popstar Jay Chou.

Moreover, Martinez's paintings are, as befits his status as a rising star, replete with explosiveness and artistic flights of fantasy. The work Untitled at the Spring auction is an example of this exquisite style.

Abstract Freedom of Surging Fantasy

Although Martinez does not have a background in academic art, his artistic influences are rooted in his own life experiences. As such, he has been immersed in US urban life and the graffiti culture to which it gave rise from a very young age. At the age of 15, the artist moved to San Diego, California, and became active in pop up street art. From 2012, he dedicated himself to the field of abstract art and quickly developed a unique visual language and image motifs. In Untitled, which was completed in 2015, Martinez instinctively retains the rapidity of graffiti in his bold and surging brushwork. Indeed, the rough wild strokes and uninhibited outline switch between semi-open lines and solid block surfaces, creating a style reminiscent of Dutch-American abstract expressionist master Willem de Kooning. Moreover, Martinez also renders bright, positive and gorgeous colour tones, within which he combines spray paint and the sumptuous feel of enamel paint that infuse his works with a semi-representational fantastical feel.

Fantastic Images
A Vast Sky in which Birds Fly Freely

Martinez's creative works are based on a deep and profound understanding of art history, mixed and reconstructed with his own life experience and modern cultural reflections. For example, the brown rectangle made up of rough blue lines and a triangular geometric pattern on the right of the work, is akin to the Moai stone monoliths seen on Easter Island, showcasing a spiritual aura that harkens back to ancient civilization. A flying fish with a pink head and blue arched body leaps from the ocean, creating sea spray and showcasing an "immense ocean that allows fish to leap at liberty, a vast sky in which birds fly freely." If we compare this piece to Mother and Child by American artist Philip Guston, we get a classical visual perception replete with modern feel. At a high point in the painting, a mother appears sat in a brown chair, her clothes loosened as she suckles a baby in her arms, the dancing jet black, coffee, beige, pink and indigo hues representing different parts of the woman's body; her long hair, face, bosom, arms, successfully employing semi-representational images made abstract to highlight the vitality of expressionism.

In essence, the works of Eddie Martinez showcase a synthesis of elements. Through his richly explosive brush strokes, bold outline crafting and semi-abstract forms, the artist also greatly refines classical shapes and rich meaningful narration, with the freedom, and expressive style of action art. By combining the thickness of oil, softness of acrylic colour, smudging of spray paint and luster of enamel paint, Martinez highlights the multicoloured effect of saturation, lightness, layering, and glittering, as he guides the gaze of viewers around the work. As a result, the piece offers a narrative but also encourages the infusion of imagination and is replete with power.

Price estimate:
HKD: 250,000 – 350,000
USD: 31,900 - 44,700

Auction Result:
HKD: --