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MoMA PS1 will present the first New York museum exhibition of artist Leslie Martinez (b. 1985, McAllen, Texas). On view from November 16, 2023 through April 8, 2024, the presentation will debut new and recent works by Martinez, who lived in New York City for fifteen years before returning to Texas in 2019. The exhibition showcases a selection of paintings that range in scale and burst with color, alongside a new series that explores the politics and poetics of the color gray as a boundless state of possibility.
Leslie Martinez (b. 1985, McAllen, Texas) received an MFA from Yale University in 2018 and a BFA from The Cooper Union in 2008. They have had solo exhibitions at Commonwealth and Council, Los Angeles (2023), Blaffer Art Museum, Houston (2023) and And Now, Dallas (2021, 2020). Martinez has participated in residencies at venues including Museum of Contemporary Art, Tucson (2019) and is a recipient of the United States Latinx Art Forum’s Latinx Artist Fellowship (2022). Their work is in the collections of Dallas Museum of Art; Pérez Art Museum Miami; High Museum of Art, Atlanta; and Speed Art Museum, Louisville.
Organized by Elena Ketelsen González, Assistant Curator, MoMA PS1.
Support is provided by Kate and Ajay Agarwal, Mr. and Mrs. Lee Broughton, Kevin Del Colle, and Carlos Marsano.
Learn more about the exhibition on our website.
Images
Leslie Martinez. Your Life Became a Sundial When Your Body Dropped the Earth. 2021. Fabric, paper, wood ash, charcoal, fine ballast, pumice, Pearlex mica powder, iron oxide, and acrylic on canvas. 7’ 5’’ × 70″ (228.6 × 177.8 cm). Courtesy the artist and AND NOW. Photo: Evan Sheldon
Leslie Martinez. The Decorum of this Body. 2023. Acrylic, painting rags, studio clothes, dried paint chips, charcoal, coarse sawdust, pumice on canvas, 60 × 75 × 8″ (152 × 191 × 20 cm). Courtesy Commonwealth and Council. Photo: Paul Salveson
Leslie Martinez. Out of the Gap Where Darkness Echos, Mustangs Took Off Running. 2023. Acrylic, sumi ink, modeling paste, used studio rags, canvas scraps, used studio clothing, plastic film stuffing, polyester sewing threads, paper fragments, mop head fibers, paint chips, buckwheat hull, iron silicate, pumice, and glass beads on canvas. Image courtesy MoMA PS1. Photo: Kris Graves
Leslie Martinez. Out of the Gap Where Darkness Echos, Mustangs Took Off Running (detail). 2023. Acrylic, sumi ink, modeling paste, used studio rags, canvas scraps, used studio clothing, plastic film stuffing, polyester sewing threads, paper fragments, mop head fibers, paint chips, buckwheat hull, iron silicate, pumice, and glass beads on canvas. Image courtesy MoMA PS1. Photo: Kris Graves
Leslie Martinez. The Foam of a Violent Shake (Don’t Tread on Me) (detail). 2023. Acrylic, used studio rags, canvas scraps, used studio clothing, hand towel margins, plastic film stuffing, paper fragments, crushed charcoal, saw dust, pumice, paint chips, modeling paste, wood ashes, mica flakes, mica powder, and iron oxide on canvas. Image courtesy MoMA PS1. Photo: Kris Graves
Leslie Martinez. The Foam of a Violent Shake (Don’t Tread on Me). 2023. Acrylic, used studio rags, canvas scraps, used studio clothing, hand towel margins, plastic film stuffing, paper fragments, crushed charcoal, saw dust, pumice, paint chips, modeling paste, wood ashes, mica flakes, mica powder, and iron oxide on canvas. Installation view, Leslie Martinez: The Fault of Formation, on view at MoMA PS1 from November 16, 2023 through April 8, 2024. Image courtesy MoMA PS1. Photo: Kris Graves
Leslie Martinez. The Reconstitution of Rejected and Refracted Voids. 2023. Acrylic, sumi ink, used studio rags, canvas scraps, used studio clothing, plastic film stuffing, polyester sewing threads, paper fragments, mylar balloons, iron silicate, iridescent cellophane, crushed charcoal, paint chips, saw dust, pumice, modeling paste, mica flakes, mica powder, and iron oxide on canvas. Installation view, Leslie Martinez: The Fault of Formation, on view at MoMA PS1 from November 16, 2023 through April 8, 2024. Image courtesy MoMA PS1. Photo: Kris Graves
Leslie Martinez. The Reconstitution of Rejected and Refracted Voids (detail). 2023. Acrylic, sumi ink, used studio rags, canvas scraps, used studio clothing, plastic film stuffing, polyester sewing threads, paper fragments, mylar balloons, iron silicate, iridescent cellophane, crushed charcoal, paint chips, saw dust, pumice, modeling paste, mica flakes, mica powder, and iron oxide on canvas. Image courtesy MoMA PS1. Photo: Kris Graves
Leslie Martinez. Untitled. 2021. Acrylic, fabric, paper, fine ballast, pumice, and iron oxide on canvas. Image courtesy MoMA PS1. Photo: Kris Graves
Installation view, Leslie Martinez: The Fault of Formation, on view at MoMA PS1 from November 16, 2023 through April 8, 2024. Image courtesy MoMA PS1. Photo: Kris Graves
Installation view, Leslie Martinez: The Fault of Formation, on view at MoMA PS1 from November 16, 2023 through April 8, 2024. Image courtesy MoMA PS1. Photo: Kris Graves
Installation view, Leslie Martinez: The Fault of Formation, on view at MoMA PS1 from November 16, 2023 through April 8, 2024. Image courtesy MoMA PS1. Photo: Kris Graves
Portrait of Leslie Martinez. Photo: Tony Krash