Patrick Martinez (b. 1980, Pasadena, CA; lives and works in Los Angeles) maintains a diverse practice that includes mixed media landscape paintings, neon sign pieces, “Cake Paintings,” and his “Pee Chee” appropriative series. The landscape paintings are abstractions composed of Los Angeles surface content; e.g. distressed stucco, spray paint, window security bars, vinyl signage, ceramic tile, neon sign elements, and other recognizable materials. His neon sign works are fabricated to mirror street level commercial signage, but are remixed to present words and phrases drawn from literary and oratorical sources. His acrylic on panel “Cake Paintings” memorialize leaders, activists, and thinkers, and the “Pee Chee” series documents the threats posed to black and brown youth by law enforcement. All these works serve to evoke place and socio-economic position, and further unearth sites of personal, civic and cultural loss.

Photo Credit: Melchizedek Chan