Visual Artist

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

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Upcoming \ Currently On View

I’m not a cowboy is a solo exhibition by Mark Anthony Martinez, where the artist questions the mythos of the west. A multimedia exhibition “I'm not a cowboy" draws a metaphorical line in the sand, wherein Martinez invites his audience to “shoot” a cowboy.The artist himself, named after a character from the television show The Rifleman (ABC 1958-1963) – Martinez, expresses the cognitive dissonance of someone who is ostensibly "MEXICAN" but named after an unambiguously white protagonist.Featuring original footage (filmed earlier this year), alongside new text works and even incorporating the usage of a classic NES (Nintendo Entertainment System) Zapper – the exhibition asks the audience to consider their own role in manufacturing and reifying western exceptionalism.I’m not a cowboy will open to the public, with an opening reception 6–9pm Friday November, 8, 2024 at Clamplight Studios & Gallery. The exhibition will run through December 7, 2024 and otherwise be open by appointment. A closing reception will be held 6-9p December 7.

Voyager 3: Artifacts of Humanity is a curation dedicated to presenting contemporary artifacts, ideas, and visual cues to encapsulate what it means to be human from an artist’s perspective in the 21st century. Referencing NASA’s Voyager missions of the 1970s, curators Mark Anthony Martinez and Maverick Pascal introduce artifacts to help extraterrestrial civilizations contextualize our species and offer humans a deeper self-understanding.The show parallels the golden records on the original Voyager probes with the art displayed in the Carver gallery. VOYAGER 3 envisions what a contemporary probe might contain if artists defined “human” in the 21st century. If launched, these artifacts could drift through space for billions of years, long after the Earth and humanity are gone.As curators and artists, it’s compelling to consider the legacies we leave behind. Will our probe convey our hopes and dreams, or will our creativity become mere cosmic debris?

Video Work

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

“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 recently exhibited visual works and documentation of installations. See my instagram for more information on upcoming studio happenings.

Artist Statement

I’m a conceptual artist whose bulk of my practice revolves around a project spanning a multitude of media and tones revolving most broadly around themes of racial identity. Wherein, a majority of my works express my own relation 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.”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.