“The absence of the easily categorizable can be a form of terror for some people. And for others—like myself—it can be a form of liberation.”
Researching Texan artist Leslie Martinez is no easy task. When I mention this to Martinez—who identifies as trans and nonbinary and favors the pronouns they/them—in the artist’s Dallas studio, their gut reaction is plain and simple. “Good!”
There hasn’t been a whole lot written about Martinez’s work yet, but that’s about to change. Their exuberant mixed-media abstractions will be on display ata solo exhibition opening at the Los Angeles gallery Commonwealth and Council on May 6. In early November, they will have a solo exhibition over three rooms at MoMA PS1 in New York.
Born near the U.S.-Mexico border in the Rio Grande Valley city of McAllen, Martinez grew up in Dallas and has been making art since childhood. “I used to watch a lot of,” Martinez recalls. “And the one thing I remember vividly were his lessons on how to draw things by making the biggest shapes first. There was one episode where he painted a robin, and I memorized how to paint it.
After roughly 15 years in New York, Martinez enrolled in graduate school at Yale University. While they’re now creating vividly hued works, their Yale years were muted. “Grad school was all black and white,” Martinez says. “Some people thought my work was crumpled sheet metal, and then they got close to it and realized it was fabric dipped in concrete, painted gray. I was just very excited about the idea of something performing as something else—or this sort of complete material confusion.
When I visit Martinez’s warehouse-like Dallas studio, kaleidoscopic canvases in varying stages of completion are propped up along the perimeter. Martinez begins by experimenting with the versatility of acrylic paint in bold mark-making, ethereal washes reminiscent of watercolors, and drippy layers applied with spray bottles. Stacked up on the floor, remnants of the artist’s “abstract sewing” process are poised to add dimension and depth to the abstractions.
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