Photo Credit: Greg Zaragoza

Mark Anthony Martinez, MFA

Visual Artist \ Curator

b. 1987BFA; Intermedia, Pacific Northwest College of Art, 2012
MFA; Contemporary Art Practices, Portland State University, 2014Based in San Antonio, TX

Upcoming \ Currently On View

On view April 12 through May 24, 2025
S.M.A.R.T. Project Space, 1906 S. Flores, San Antonio, Texas 78204Opening Reception, April 12, Saturday from 7:00 – 10:00 PM
Closing Reception, May 24, Saturday from 6:00 – 9:00 PM---
“PERSONAL GEOGRAPHIES”, is the entry point to understanding the connectedness of individuals, communities and how the architecture that supports these people, create systems that work interdependently to keep the whole thriving. Like trees absorbing carbon-dioxide and releasing oxygen – many institutions that surround us, provide for us.When we understand how systems work we can in turn become more effective participants in shaping our city’s future. Identifying aspects of our own surroundings – important landmarks, businesses and buildings can serve to elucidate what responsibilities people may hold in order to operate or steward such settings. Moreover, by starting where we currently live – we may find out just how much more there is to learn about the systems in place that keep us safe, fed and productive.Likening the rural, suburban and urban to differing systems found in nature then, gives us a useful metaphor for understanding the interconnectivity between participants within the institutions that surround us. Might these institutions function differently when cared for and healthy? What happens when a business goes out of business and is left vacant? Or perhaps a park goes unattended? Might we liken these occurrences to an unhealthy state of being or much like decay – does this signal the end of an organism’s life-cycle? Like a shot in the arm – communities affected, should they choose to respond, may be the only remedy for broken institutions.Featuring Artists: Anastassia Rabajille, Elexis Hernandez, Fernando Lopez, Gary Young, Jack Salgado, Jesse Guevara, Jimmy James Canales, Miles Payne, Ruth Leonela Buentello, Shelby Criswell, Tanner Cole Freeman, Tiffany MorenoVisit SMARTSA.org for more info!

Video Work

A collection of relevant video works and documentation of previous installations. See my Vimeo for more info.

"I'M NOT A COWBOY...," solo exhibition documentation, Clamp Light Artist Studios & Gallery, 2024

“HE GOT IT," 3 minute video excerpt, original video duration 00:14:45”, 2024

“Reverse Manifest Destiny,” video installation, originally created for the group show “IM\MATERIAL CONCERNS\,” 1906, San Antonio.

“Didactic/Musings,” single channel video, originally created for the group show “Not Quite January,” 1906, San Antonio. Runtime 18:42”

“art/worker,” video performance on PVM, created for the group show “ART/WORKER,” curated by Michael Martinez then selected for the curation “Vernacular Systems,” curated by Christopher Blay, 2024

“i did it to myself,” solo exhibition video pile documentation of “the doom scroll,” in the project space JANUARY, 2023.

SPECTRE, single channel video installation, exhibiting in tandem with the classic theatre’s production of “Measure for Measure,” San Antonio, 2023

“Brown Sugar,” A three hour performance neutralizing the radical within the artist; culminating in a “safer” brown hue. Originally performed at Recess, a project space in Portland, OR.

Visual Art Documentation

A portfolio of previously exhibited visual works and documentation of installations. See my instagram or follow me on Blue Sky (links below) for more information on upcoming studio happenings.

Artist Biography

Mark Anthony Martinez is a conceptual artist and curator based in his hometown of San Antonio, Texas. Martinez holds a BFA in Intermedia Arts from the Pacific Northwest College of Art (2012) and an MFA in Studio Art from Portland State University (2014).His studio practice, has had him exhibit in numerous group shows locally and nationally, including; The Contemporary at Blue Star, San Antonio, TX (2024), Centro de Artes, San Antonio, TX (2020), The Clemente Soto Velez Cultural and Educational Center Inc., New York, NY (2019), The Open as part of the Nicholas Frank Public Library, Milwaukee, Wi. (2017), Mexic-Arte in Austin, TX. (2017) and, Co-Prosperity Sphere, Chicago, Il. (2014). In 2024, Martinez ended the year with his tenth solo exhibition titled “I’m Not A Cowboy,” featured at the Clamp Light Artist Studios & Gallery in San Antonio, Texas.Martinez has served as Visual Arts Director to the Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center (2015-2017), Gallery Manager for the Michael and Noemi Neidorff Art Gallery at Trinity University (2018), co-curator for the experimental pop-up space, Fake Gallery (2019), co-director of the short lived project space entitled JANUARY (2023) and currently co-curator to both INTERLOPER and The S.M.A.R.T. Project Space; respective arts incubators within the "1906 Studio."

Artist Statement

I’m a conceptual artist whose bulk of my practice revolves around my own relation to racial whiteness as a visibly brown individual.Through my art; I employ self-portraiture, text and oblique references to the white body as it exists as a disembodied ideal — challenging the western notion of white as “neutral” as well as the historical violence of assimilation.Although this type of work encompasses a majority of my exhibited artwork, there are other subjects I’m eager to explore. Subjects such as labor, science fiction and ecological conservation. However, these next creative endeavors come with the understanding that all of my work is created from a space that fully recognizes that I am a person of color.

IMPORTANT LINKS