Eddie Martinez

Known for his energetic use of line and manipulation of colour in his paintings and sculpture, Eddie Martinez’s work blends abstraction and figuration. Born in Groton, Connecticut in 1977, Martinez spent his adolescent years making graffiti. The rough, expressionistic lines and bold colours of street art are retained in his large-scale canvases.

Eddie Martinez draws inspiration from a wide range of influences including popular urban culture, Abstract Expressionism and Surrealism. Trained as both a draftsman and painter, his canvases demonstrate a rich, intuitive command of pigment while maintaining the fast-paced, semi-automatic qualities of drawing.

Often evoking the raw gesturalism akin to that of Willem de Kooning, Eddie Martinez’s distinctive style has also been compared to the works of modern masters like Jean-Michel Basquiat and Philip Guston, yet Martinez's voice remains uniquely his own. Like Henri Matisse and Pierre Bonnard, Martinez elevates everyday life to an otherworldly realm, infusing the familiar with a sense of fantasy. This is evident in his combination of traditional and unconventional media: oil and acrylic join hands with everyday substances including markers, spray paint and collaged objects.

Martinez’s work has been widely exhibited in galleries and museums around the world. His notable solo exhibitions include shows at the Timothy Taylor Gallery in London, the Perrotin Gallery in Paris, and the Bronx Museum of the Arts in New York.

In addition to his gallery exhibitions, Martinez’s work has also been featured in prestigious art fairs such as Art Basel and the Armory Show. His pieces have been acquired by major collections, including the Saatchi Gallery in London and the Marciano Art Foundation in Los Angeles. His works attract a strong demand in the auction market. In 2019 Christie’s broke the record for the artist at auction with his High Flying Bird (2014), selling for HK$15,725,000.