Untitled (2014) is a vivid, vigorous example of the virtuoso abstract paintings for which the Brookyln-based artist Eddie Martinez is renowned. A towering scape of biomorphic form quivers in confident black line amid dripped and impastoed off-white; flashes of yellow, blue, red, purple and brown animate the surface with De Kooning-esque dynamism. The humanoid edge to Martinez’s abstraction also betrays his interest in Asger Jorn and Philip Guston. A friendly eyeball stares from a trapezoid head, whose shape is echoed by several miniature reproductions of other Martinez paintings that the artist has collaged into the composition. Further tactility is introduced by applied sections of raw canvas, which are dappled with paint like scraps lifted from the studio. This smartly self-referential edge is characteristic of Martinez’s works: their seemingly effortless gestural energy belies a complex process of construction. The artist begins with Sharpie pen drawings on a small notepad, which are then blown up and screenprinted onto the canvas to provide a structural framework for the pyrotechnics of oil, enamel, spray paint and collage that follow. Martinez’s expressive command of line and colour electrifies the painting, forging a work that is at once improvised, deliberate, light-hearted and sophisticated.
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