Each chapter will feature a conversation between the most remarkable artists from Latin America and Latinx in the U.S. and our MOLAA Chief Curator Gabriela Urtiaga. Together we will focus on a series or specific artwork which requires a close inspection, a deliberate process of contemplation, and exploration; delving into the ideas surrounding the creation of the works, their sources of research and inspiration, in an effort to immerse ourselves in the world of the artists.
Join Chapter #24 of the MOLAA Zoom Project, where MOLAA's Chief Curator Gabriela Urtiaga will join Mexican artist Narsiso Martinez for a conversation.
Narsiso Martinez’s paintings and mixed media installations include individual portraits and multi-figure compositions of farm laborers set against the agricultural landscapes and brand designs of grocery store produce boxes. Drawn from his own experience as a farm worker, Martinez’s work focuses on the people performing the labors necessary to fill produce sections and restaurant kitchens around the country. Martinez’s portraits of farm workers are executed on discarded produce boxes collected from grocery stores. In a style informed by inter-war Social Realism and European Realism, Martinez’s work makes visible the difficult labor and onerous working conditions of the American farm worker.
Narsiso Martinez (b. 1977, Oaxaca, Mexico) migrated to the United States when he was 20 years old. He attended Evans Community Adult School and completed high school in 2006 at the age of 29. To finance his education, Martinez worked seasonally in the apple orchards of Eastern Washington for nine years. He earned an Associate of Arts degree in 2009 from Los Angeles City College. In the fall of 2012 Narsiso earned his Bachelor of Fine Arts from California State University Long Beach. In the spring of 2018 he received a Master of Fine Arts degree in drawing and painting from California State University Long Beach, and was awarded the prestigious Dedalus Foundation MFA Fellowship in Painting and Sculpture. His work has been exhibited both locally and internationally. Narsiso’s work is in the permanent collections of the LBMA, the Crocker Art Museum, the Jordan Schnitzer Museum at the University of Oregon, the Santa Barbara Museum, and others. Martinez lives and works in Long Beach, CA.