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MMoCA Artist Talk: Patrick Martinez
April 22, 2021 @ 5:30 pm - 6:30 pm
Join us for a live discussion and Q&A with artist Patrick Martinez, whose exhibition Patrick Martinez: Signs of the Times is currently on view at MMoCA. Martinez will be joined by Assistant Curator, Elizabeth Shoshany Anderson.
The event is free and open to the public.
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Using materials commonly found in cities, Patrick Martinez subverts their purpose to interrogate the realities of urban life. Neon signs, a frequent sight in Martinez’s home of Los Angeles, are used by the artist to play with a sense of space and our expectations of the everyday. His neons are fabricated in the same manner as any other street-level business signage, and contain phrases drawn from a variety of sources. From the literary to the commercial, the language within his neon works range from emphatic to profound. Visually echoing the hectic pace of the cityscape, Martinez’s art speaks urgently to this contemporary American moment.
Using materials commonly found in cities, Patrick Martinez subverts their purpose to interrogate the realities of urban life. Neon signs, a frequent sight in Martinez’s home of Los Angeles, are used by the artist to play with a sense of space and our expectations of the everyday. His neons are fabricated in the same manner as any other street-level business signage, and contain phrases drawn from a variety of sources. From the literary to the commercial, the language within his neon works range from emphatic to profound. Visually echoing the hectic pace of the cityscape, Martinez’s art speaks urgently to this contemporary American moment.
Image: Patrick Martinez, Look (After Kirk McCoy), 2020. Neon, 18 x 24 inches. Courtesy of the Artist and Charlie James Gallery.
