ARTIST INFO

VINCENT MARTINEZ
Atlanta , GA

MEDIA | Mixed-media painting

Penland Affiliation | Penland Instructor 2010, Core Fellow 1988-89, Penland School Board Member

Artist Information | Studio artist; B.F.A. Barry University, Miami (FL), MFA, Rochester Institute of Technology (NY), Masters of Art Education, Georgia State University (GA)

Artist Bio | E. Vincent Martinez is a Cuban-born, Atlanta-based mixed-media artist. He has a BFA from Barry University in Miami where he studied ceramics and photography. After college he spent two years on a core student fellowship at the Penland School of Craft in North Carolina studying weaving, textiles, book-making and photography with a focus on in-camera multiple exposures. He continued to explore photography and earned an MFA in the Imaging Arts from the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT). In 2001 he completed the Masters in Art Education program at Georgia State University to gain a teaching certification. Martinez is the creative behind the brands, fashionado.net and Doggies on the Catwalk, DOTC Foundation. He is an educator on the high school and college levels and serves as the host and anchor of AiLive, the system-wide digital TV platform for The Art Institutes.

With more than half-a-lifetime of experiences, Martinez draws on his personal triumphs and challenges as the inspiration for his abstract-expressionist paintings. His use of collage, scribblings and multiple layers of paint paired with other materials to create visually compelling works that are filled with symbolism and hidden meanings. While his work is self-referential, Martinez purposely leaves room for interpretation allowing the viewer to make their own personal connections or conclusions.

Artist Statement | Flowers often display the most character as they near death. They come to life as they twist, turn and dance. They change color, form and wilt back to the Earth. The Fragmented Floral Series takes this notion to a transcendental place as emotions about death and rebirth emerge. An exploration of negative and positive space challenges the idea of the here and now with negative space symbolizing a void and an absence while simultaneously commanding a strong presence through repetitive pattern. Erratic scribblings represent words and thoughts — illegible markings, though not mindless. They also serve as an expressive and impulsive release for feelings of anger, frustration and darkness. There is lightness, however, and it is revealed under layers of paint that allow bright color to show through. The abstract-expressionist approach of the series provides and emotional outlet for the subconscious mind – a letting go of the contrived and just letting be. Fragmented Florals is about a purposeful release of control, life after death, beauty in darkness and the emotive power of flowers.