"I'm interested in the clash between high and low, refined and crude. I want my paintings to feel urgent and necessary."

Eddie Martinez (b. 1977, Groton, Connecticut) is a contemporary American artist known for his dynamic, energetic paintings that balance abstraction with recognizable imagery, melding street art sensibilities with art historical references. His vibrant, heavily impastoed canvases incorporate a wide range of techniques and materials—from oil and acrylic paint to spray paint, marker, and collaged elements—creating works that pulse with raw spontaneity while revealing a sophisticated understanding of composition and color. Martinez's distinctive visual language features recurring motifs including cartoonish figures, still lifes, floating heads, and abstracted forms that serve as anchors within his improvisational approach.

Martinez emerged in the early 2000s without formal art school training, developing his practice through independent study and drawing inspiration from both classical painting traditions and contemporary urban visual culture. His early career was marked by a graffiti-influenced style that has evolved into a more complex visual language that references modernist painting while maintaining a gritty, immediate quality. Working primarily from his studio in Brooklyn, New York, Martinez has gained international recognition for his distinctive approach that bridges traditional painting techniques with contemporary visual vernacular. His work has been celebrated for its muscular energy, chromatic intensity, and ability to synthesize diverse influences—from de Kooning and Guston to comic books and street art—into a unique pictorial vocabulary that feels both timely and timeless.

After Bay Area, Early 90s, 2016