Bio
Stemming from a childhood love of Renaissance art and graphic novels, the work of Ferris Martinez revolves around the dissolution of internal identity, viewed primarily through a representational approach - with particular emphasis given to portraiture and the human figure. His recent body of work has focused on the exploitation of the individual in an increasingly consumptive society, where one’s own self-affirmed value is often determined by the ability to produce for others.
This theme - that of the erasure of the personal replaced by the external - is largely investigated via the interplay between highly-rendered, controlled detail and loose mark-making interspersed with swaths of color. Using this visual language, it is his aim to create a striking dichotomy that speaks to being unmoored, dissolving in a world where the individual is increasingly atomized and separate, incapable of being viewed as a whole.
Ultimately, engaging in such art-making is an act of self-reclamation, and potently necessary. Each brush stroke is a move away from this odd arrangement the world presently finds itself a part of, where production is valued over dignity, and creativity is ever-more confined to those who can access it.
This theme - that of the erasure of the personal replaced by the external - is largely investigated via the interplay between highly-rendered, controlled detail and loose mark-making interspersed with swaths of color. Using this visual language, it is his aim to create a striking dichotomy that speaks to being unmoored, dissolving in a world where the individual is increasingly atomized and separate, incapable of being viewed as a whole.
Ultimately, engaging in such art-making is an act of self-reclamation, and potently necessary. Each brush stroke is a move away from this odd arrangement the world presently finds itself a part of, where production is valued over dignity, and creativity is ever-more confined to those who can access it.
Education
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2011 - 2013
2000 - 2004 |
UC Berkeley, Bachelor of Arts, Art Practice, CA
School of the Arts, Art Magnet High School, San Francisco, CA |
Exhibitions
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2020
2019 2018 2013 2012 2008 2001 |
"Last We Heard", solo exhibition at Art Attack SF, San Francisco, CA
"Make Your Mark", Art Attack SF, San Francisco, CA "Oakland Art Library", Oakland Art Library, Oakland, CA "Chocolate and Art", SOMArts, San Francisco, CA "Fulton House Opening", Fulton House, San Francisco, CA "Nothing Gold", Live Worms Gallery, San Francisco, CA "Chocolate and Art" , SOMArts, San Francisco "Pancakes and Booze Art Show", Mezzanine, San Francisco, CA "Uncovered Territories", Worth Ryder Gallery, UC Berkeley, CA "Fiat Lux Redux" , Worth Ryder Gallery, UC Berkeley, CA "Up and Coming", College of San Mateo, CA "Young Artists Exhibition", Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco, CA |
Honors & Awards
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2013
2013 2013 2013 |
Graduated with Honors - Summa Cum Laude, UC Berkeley
Certificate of Distinction in Painting Honors Program - Department Award of Studio Space and Exhibition, UC Berkeley The Phelan Undergraduate Scholarship - a faculty selected financial award presented annually to students based on merit, UC Berkeley |