April 3 - September 1, 2024
From Dallas Contemporary:
“Dallas Contemporary is pleased to present Patrick Martinez: Histories, opening April 3, 2024. The expansive solo exhibition will present a collection of brand new works alongside a survey of pieces representative of the artist’s distinctive multidisciplinary practice. Histories draws attention to often overlooked and ephemeral city scenes embedded with elements reflective of intergenerational cultural exchange. Featuring sculpture, dynamic installations, large-scale multi-media paintings, and the artist’s iconic neon works, the exhibition transports the collective artifacts, sentiments, memories, and energies of Los Angeles and comparable Latinx, Filipinx, and BIPOC communities into the Dallas Contemporary space.
“We are thrilled to bring a comprehensive exhibition by LA-based artist Patrick Martinez to Dallas Contemporary,” said Dallas Contemporary Executive Director Carolina Alvarez-Mathies. “With California and Texas both having the largest Latinx populations in the United States, DC is an ideal platform for showcasing Martinez’s powerful works, which unify immigrant and BIPOC communities throughout the United States through a strong, shared visual language.”
A Los Angeles native, Martinez creates works that reflect on the ever-evolving landscape of the city he calls home, considering the passage of time and its impact on the lived environment and, by consequence, on the multicultural communities that inhabit it. Influenced by the rich visual traditions of the city, his paintings draw from an ephemeral mural tradition with deep roots in local Mexican American histories, placing it in dialogue with the visual histories of other communities such as those of the Filipinx and Native American communities, among others. From Mayan warriors to flowering Bougainvillea, from Emiliano Zapata to feathered serpents, from Sitting Bull to the labor organizer and activist Larry Itliong, Martinez’s imagery is culled from a variety of Mesoamerican, Latin American, Latinx, Filipinx, and indigenous sources, yet stand together as part of a larger communal cultural legacy that spans across cultural communities in the region as well as in many parts of the United States, including Texas.
Martinez’s approach incorporates vernacular everyday images and architectural forms, offering a contemplation on the ephemeral nature of American urban visual histories. These narratives are frequently depicted on the walls of community centers, primary schools, and corner markets in neighborhoods across the US. Due to the turnover of these spaces, the historical narratives become increasingly intricate over time with their complexities mirroring the rich cultural exchange sparked by migration.
Drawing our focus to the progression of these histories, Martinez prompts viewers to reflect on the histories being made in real time. His work recognizes inequities within the criminal justice and education systems, as well as within the immigration enforcement system replete with ethnic and socio-economic disparities. With the use of familiar visual languages like vinyl banners, window bars, neon, and tile, Patrick Martinez: Histories places American histories in dialogue with the larger ever-evolving urban landscape, and lends hope by combating darkness with light.
Patrick Martinez: Histories is curated by Rafael Barrientos Martínez. This exhibition was originated by former DC adjunct curator Pedro Alonzo. The realization of Patrick Martinez: Histories is made possible through the generous support of The Judelson Family Foundation.
Patrick Martinez: Histories
April 3, 2024 – September 1, 2024
Dallas Contemporary
161 Glass Street, Dallas, Texas 75207
ABOUT PATRICK MARTINEZ
Patrick Martinez (b. 1980, Pasadena, CA) earned his BFA with honors from Art Center College of Design in 2005. His work has been exhibited domestically and internationally in Los Angeles, Mexico City, San Francisco, Minneapolis, Miami, New York, Seoul, and the Netherlands, and at venues including the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, the Brooklyn Museum, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, the Studio Museum in Harlem, the Smithsonian National Portrait Gallery, the Smithsonian NMAAHC, the Tucson Museum of Art, the Buffalo AKG Museum, the Columbus Museum of Art, the Vincent Price Art Museum, the Museum of Latin American Art, the Crocker Art Museum, the Rollins Art Museum, the California African American Museum, the Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art, and El Museo del Barrio, among others.
Patrick’s work resides in the permanent collections the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Broad Museum, Crystal Bridges Museum of American Art, the Museum of Contemporary Art Los Angeles (MOCA), the Rubell Museum, the Smithsonian National Museum of American History, the California African American Museum, the Autry Museum of the American West, the Benton Museum of Art at Pomona College, the Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art, the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), the Tucson Museum of Art, the Pizzuti Collection of the Columbus Museum of Art, the University of North Dakota Permanent Collection, the JPMorgan Chase Art Collection, the Crocker Art Museum, the Escalette Permanent Collection of Art at Chapman University, the Manetti-Shrem Museum of Art at UC Davis, the Rollins Museum of Art, and the Museum of Latin American Art, among others.
Patrick was awarded a 2020 Rauschenberg Residency on Captiva Island, FL. In the fall of 2021 Patrick was the subject of a solo museum exhibition at the Tucson Museum of Art entitled Look What You Created. In 2022, Patrick was awarded a residency at the Atlantic Center for the Arts. Currently, Patrick’s suite of ten neon pieces purchased by the Whitney Museum of American Art is on yearlong exhibition installed in the Kenneth C. Griffin Hall in the entrance of the Museum. In September 2023, Patrick opened a solo exhibition at the ICA San Francisco titled Ghost Land and in November of 2023 Patrick opened Desire, Knowledge, and Hope (with Smog) at The Broad Museum in Los Angeles, CA. Patrick lives and works in Los Angeles, CA and is represented by Charlie James Gallery, Los Angeles.
ABOUT DALLAS CONTEMPORARY
Dallas Contemporary is a non-collecting art museum presenting new and challenging ideas from regional, national and international artists. Located in an industrial building in the Design District, Dallas Contemporary documents new directions in art through rotating exhibitions, publications, public programs, and learning programs for visitors of all ages. As a contemporary arts institution that grapples with timely and complex issues, Dallas Contemporary firmly believes in the power of artists’ ideas and voices to chronicle and transform society. Always different. Always free.”
On View: April 3, 2024 | 12–5 pm
161 Glass Street
Dallas, 75207 TX
(214) 821-2522
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