Toward A Distant Dawn

I have a new show at the Martha Otero Gallery up till mid-July. If you're in LA, please stop by and check it out. More image details here.

MARIO MARTINEZ
Toward A Distant Dawn
June 7 - July 19, 2014
Opening Reception: Saturday, June 7th from 6 - 9 PM

Martha Otero Gallery is pleased to present Toward A Distant Dawn, an exhibition of new paintings and sculptures by San Francisco-based artist Mario Martinez (aka Mars-1).

Mario Martinez's concepts are informed by cosmology, ufology, altered states of consciousness, his psyche and its relationship to space.

In Toward A Distant Dawn, diffracted patterns combined with orbital formations made of large gestural circular brush strokes create a sense of kinetic energy. A gradient expansion of color and light produce an after-glow (similar to those in gamma-rays). Layered details of geometric-organic firmaments, resembling space debris, amalgamate with an abstracted imaginative landscape. Cast bronze molecular sculptures of celestial spherical elements are fabricated using both additive manufacturing and the ancient technique of lost-wax. Unforeseen Possibilities shows the cognitive effects of black and white shapes visually designed to process optical illusory motion. The undulating black holes are reminiscent of the unfathomable scope of the cosmos.

In this highly mathematical work, infused with an intense fascination for natural biology and quantum mechanics, Martinez conveys an immersive visceral experience.

Mario Martinez was born in Boulder, Colorado in 1977. Exhibitions of his work have been hosted at venues in San Francisco, New York, Detroit, Toronto, Lisbon, Italy, and Brazil. He participated in The Vader Project (2009) at the Andy Warhol Museum in Pittsburgh and was a part of a group exhibition entitled Robots: An Evolution of a Cultural Icon (2008) at the San Jose Museum of Art, California; Natural and Unnatural: Imagining Landscape, Hunterdon Museum of Art, Clinton, NJ. This is his first solo exhibition with the gallery.

MARTHA OTERO GALLERY

820 N Fairfax Avenue

Los Angeles, CA 90046

t. 323 951 1068

gallery@marthaotero.com

www.marthaotero.com

Toward A Distant Dawn

Bicycle Day

This painting was started in San Francisco, on April 20, 2012, in front of a live audience at the Bicycle Day event. I had the honor of working with my long-time hero, and an amazing human being, Alex Grey. After sending the painting back and forth a couple times, between our studios, this was the result of our collaborative experiment. More detailed images of the painting on my site.

Limited edition of 100. → Available for purchase HERE

details (check my site for more images):

Bicycle Day 2012 event:

Bicycle Day

Cosmic Terrain

I've been busy preparing for this upcoming group show opening in Petaluma this weekend. If you are in the area, please stop by and say hi. The show runs till early June, so if you can't make the reception, please add the Arts Center to your list of places to check out while visiting Petaluma.

Cosmic Terrain:
New Visions in the Petaluma Landscape
Cosmic Terrain features Mars-1, Damon Soule and Oliver Vernon, and a large scale mural on the Phoenix Theater by North Bay artist Ricky Watts.

Opening reception: Apr 13th, 2013, 4:00 to 8:00pm
Dates: Apr 6th to Jun 2nd, 2013

Petaluma Arts Center
230 Lakeville Street, Petaluma
In the Historic Railroad Station
www.petalumaartscenter.org

Colin M. Day also shot this rad video to accompany the show.

Furtherrr - Cosmic Terrain from Colin M Day on Vimeo.

Cosmic Terrain

Crucible Opening at Mirus Gallery

I recently participated in Crucible, the inaugural show for Mirus Gallery in downtown San Francisco. Collaborations with fellow artists Damon Soule, Oliver Vernon, David Choong Lee and Nome Edonna were on display, along with individual solo work. Hi-Fructose Magazine was there and did a nice review of the show. Check out the article with more photos here.

Crucible
Collaborative works by:
Damon Soule
David Choong Lee
MARS-1
Nome Edonna
Oliver Vernon

Runs Nov 10, 2012 to Dec 1, 2012

Mirus Gallery
540 Howard St.
San Francisco, CA 94105
www.mirusgallery.com

Crucible Opening at Mirus Gallery

RE:CREATION and CoSM Painting Workshop

This Sept. 20th, I will be collaborating with Alex Grey at the upcoming RE:CREATION event in NYC. There will be an epic music line-up, along with additional painting by fellow artists Damon Soule & Oliver Vernon.

Sept. 20, 2012
RE:CREATION
Highline Ballroom
431 West 16th St.
New York, NY
8pm-4am
Event details: http://www.facebook.com/events/462393067124196/
Tickets: STS9.com & MRBUGSLY.com

Following the RE:CREATION event, Damon, Oliver and myself will be heading up to Wappinger Falls for the Aerodynamics for Psychonauts painting workshop, presented by the Chapel of Sacred Mirrors.

Techniques covered:
MARS-1 - "Happy accidents"
Oliver Vernon - "Spatial techtonics and the push/pull"
Damon Soule - "Geometrics"

Sept. 22, 2012
Aerodynamics for Psychonauts
Painting Workshop
CoSM - Chapel of Sacred Mirrors
46 Deer Hill Road
Wappingers Falls, New York 12590
www.cosm.org
Info: https://secure.cosm.org/np/clients/cosm/event.jsp?event=991
Tickets: https://www.z2systems.com/np/clients/cosm/eventRegistration.jsp?event=991

If you are on the East Coast, or plan to be this September, come check out the RE:CREATION event and/or my painting workshop at CoSM. Perhaps I'll see you at both!

RE:CREATION and CoSM Painting Workshop

Symbiosis Gathering 2012 at Pyramid Lake

This year's Symbiosis event coincided with the awesome solar eclipse on May 20th. Pyramid Lake set the backdrop for a gathering of creative souls, celebrating the event with music and art. Furtherrr artists David Choong Lee, Damon Soule, Oliver Vernon and I were there for the experience, collaborating on a major piece. More images and good times → here.

Symbiosis Gathering / Pyramid Eclipse 2012
May 17 - 21, 2012
Pyramid Lake, NV







Photos: Colin Day

Symbiosis Gathering 2012 at Pyramid Lake

City of Fire

This June, I will be part of a group exhibition curated by the folks at Arrested Motion. City of Fire opens June 5th at Stephen Webster in Beverly Hills. The show includes work by Cyrcle., Thomas Doyle, Ron English, James Jean, Kid Zoom, Dave Kinsey, MARS-1, Patrick Martinez, Pedro Matos, REVOK, Rostarr, Andrew Schoultz, SABER, Jeff Soto, Judith Supine, TrustoCorp, Mark Dean Veca, Nick Walker, and Adam Wallacavage.

City of Fire
June 5 - July 31, 2012
Presented & Curated by Arrested Motion
Opens June 5, 2012, 7pm-10pm
Stephen Webster
202 North Rodeo Drive
Beverly Hills, CA 90210
310-246-9500
Inquires: exhibitions@arrestedmotion.com
RSVP: rsvpbh@stephenwebster.com

City of Fire

Referendum Project

I'll be exhibiting work at the Palm Springs Art Fair, Feb. 17-19 next weekend, with Referendum Project at the Palm Springs Convention Center, booth #502.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT: jud@referendumproject.com

Referendum Project Launches at Palm Springs Fine Art Fair

2/17/12 - 2/19/12

The Referendum Project is a new platform for artists and their audiences. Referendum will engage audiences through a new environment for art, creating the opportunity to view art outside of a gallery and foster an open dialogue between the artist, art enthusiasts, curators and collectors.

Throughout the next year Referendum Project will participate in art fairs, open a pop-up gallery, host online shows and release a series of exclusive multiples available only through our website. By using this multi-platform approach our goal is to reach a broader audience and target numerous price points.

JUD BERGERON
"As artists we are always looking for new and exciting ways to exhibit our work. By using a multi-platform approach we can reach a broader range of collectors and engage them in dialog. We want to participate in the journey from studio to collector."

MARIO MARTINEZ (MARS-1)
"The future is direct contact, pop up spaces at art fairs around the world… Referendum Palm Springs, Referendum Basel."

Referendum Project, in collaboration with Mark Wolfe Contemporary Art, is proud to announce its premiere show at the Palm Springs Fine Art Fair, February 17-19. Artists Jud Bergeron, Albert Dicruttalo, Mario Martinez (a.k.a. Mars-1), Wayne Shaffer, Joe Sorren, and Damon Soule will showcase new work from large-scale oil paintings to sculpture in steel and bronze at the Palm Springs Convention Center, booth #502.

The exhibit is both curated and created by this consortium of six master artists and features a diverse aesthetic and variety of medium, Sorren’s ethereal rich oils, Martinez’s otherworldly metascapes, and Soule’s explosive, frenetic canvases demonstrate these painters’ intense creativity and mastery of their medium. Bergeron’s planar abstractions stand in stark contrast to Shaffer’s organic bronzes while the quasi-mechanical steel sculptures by Albert Dicruttalo serve as a bridge between the two. The exhibition is sure to be one of the most unique and eclectic at the Palm Springs Fine Art Fair.

More information can be found at www.referendumproject.com and www.palmspringsfineartfair.com

Referendum Project

11.11.11

I have a new solo show coming up on Nov. 11th at FFDG's new/temp gallery space. If you're in the city, please stop by.

Everything Under The Sun
Opening Friday Nov. 11, 2011, 6-9pm
FFDG (temporary space)
248 Clement St. @ 4th Ave.
SF, CA 94108
www.ffdg.net


Mars-1 - Everything Under The Sun from Further Collective on Vimeo.

11.11.11

Afterglow

If you happen to be in NY, the evening of May 26th, you are invited to stop by the opening of my Solo Exhibit "Afterglow" at the Jonathan Levine Gallery!

In anticipation of the show, my friend Colin M Day put together this

video. Take a look.

Mars-1 : Afterglow from Further Collective on Vimeo.

Afterglow

URBAN ALCHEMISTS : MIAMI 2010

URBAN ALCHEMISTS
Group Exhibition and Public Mural project
Wynwood Walls — 2516 NW Second Avenue, Miami FL

December 1—December 5, 2010, 12pm—7pm
Opening Event: Evening of Thursday, December 2, 2010

NEW YORK, NY (October 27, 2010) — Jonathan LeVine Gallery is proud to announce its program during Art Basel-Miami 2010, Urban Alchemists—a group exhibition and public mural project presented in association with Tony Goldman, art patron and leader in the restoration and transformation of declining historic districts into thriving cultural destinations. Curated by LeVine, Urban Alchemists will occupy a 2,200 square-foot space within Goldman Properties’ Wynwood Walls—a project that began in 2009 as an open-air art park, which will expand its permanent exhibition this year with the addition of several new murals and museum-quality works of art. Located at 2516 NW 2nd Avenue, the show will run from December 1—December 5. Daily hours will be 12pm—7pm with an opening event on the evening of December 2, 2010.

Sharing Goldman’s long-held belief that public artwork can have transformative, revitalizing powers upon communities such as the Wynwood district of Miami, LeVine is pleased to have this opportunity to contribute to the project. Urban Alchemists features a strong selection of works by ten highly celebrated and Internationally recognized artists coming out of the contemporary urban-folk and street art scenes including: AJ Fosik, Dan Witz, Doze Green, Invader, James Marshall (Dalek), Jeff Soto, Jim Houser, Judith Supine, Mario Martinez (Mars-1) and WK. In conjunction with having works in the show, Parisian artist Invader will create a mosaic mural on the façade of the exhibition space in his signature pixel-based style, and Californian artist Jeff Sotowill paint a large-scale mural on an adjacent exterior wall.

Highlighting an assortment of captivating imagery, Urban Alchemists brings together a dynamic group of artists, many of which (in addition to their gallery installations) create commissioned murals and/or ephemeral work in public urban environments. Their connective thread is an aesthetic influenced by exposure to early generations of graffiti writers during their youth, and immersion into urban sub-cultures, which has informed their artwork in different ways. Sub-cultures of graffiti, skateboarding, hip-hop and punk were heavily related and extremely underground scenes in early years; comprised of subversive, non-conformist ideals. Whether driven by political activism or aesthetic improvement, graffiti and later forms of unauthorized art in public spaces address the ongoing discourse of freedom of expression, often in response to the increasing invasiveness of corporate advertising.

Graffiti of the 70s and 80s played a major role in pushing boundaries toward the development of today’s street art scene and laid the foundation for what has now become a widespread global movement. To capture the energy of a public intervention in an urban environment and translate it into exhibition format is a challenging transition, since audience and mode of communication can shift the context of an image. As the artists in Urban Alchemists have grown individually, their artwork has evolved to a point of refinement. Similarly, as un-commissioned public art has risen in popularity, practice and appreciation around the world, it has achieved an expanded definition and broader scope than that of its graffiti-related origins.

For further information, sales inquiries, or press inquiries, please contact the gallery.

URBAN ALCHEMISTS : MIAMI 2010

-{FF pics}-

Fecal Face 10 Year Anniversary Opening Pics

-{FF pics}-

Burning Man )'( 2010

The opportunity presented it's self recently,to collaborate with my fellow human artist's, Nome Edonna, Oliver Vernon, Damon Soule and David Choong Lee @this years 2010"Burning Man".

It was a ton of fun, but I am glad to be back on Earth!!!!!

Burning Man )'( 2010

“FECAL FACE DOT COM 10 YEAR ANNIVERSARY SHOW”

Fecal Face Dot Com, the San Francisco based content-rich, multidisciplinary art and culture website, is pleased to announce the opening of its 10 Year Anniversary Show on Friday September 10, 2010 at The Luggage Store Gallery (1007 Market St, San Francisco, CA) with a reception running 6-8pm. Original paintings from 25 mid career artists based out of San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York, and London. A live music event and party will immediately follow a block away at Mezzanine (44 Jessie St) 9pm-2am.

Displaying paintings, illustrations, photographs and mixed media works, artists whose work will be exhibited include Corey Arnold (Portland), Tiffany Bozic (San Francisco), Kelsey Brookes (San Diego), David Choe (Los Angeles), Richard Colman ( Los Angeles), FAILE (New York), Jeremy Fish (San Francisco), Ian Francis (London), Matt Furie (San Francisco) , Mike Giant(San Francisco), Henry Gunderson (San Francisco), Maya Hayuk (New York), Jim Houser (Philadelphia), Jay Howell (San Francisco), Sylvia Ji (Los Angeles), Mel Kadel (Los Angeles), Anthony Lister (New York), Mars-1 (San Francisco), Travis Millard (Los Angeles), Ferris Plock (San Francisco), Albert Reyes (Los Angeles), Jeff Soto (Los Angeles), Damon Soule (New York), Kelly Tunstall (San Francisco), Aiyana Udesen (San Francisco), Oliver Vernon (San Francisco), and Megan Whitmarsh(Los Angeles)

In the 10 years since its conception, Fecal Face has occupied a unique niche online and in the "real world," by documenting and shaping the contemporary arts scene in the San Francisco and beyond. The first website of its kind, Fecal Face has launched the careers of many a creative and catalyzed a community of artists and personalities working in various mediums from around the globe. The 10 Year Anniversary Show will feature the works of 25 of these artists, chronicling a community and style that has been the backbone of Fecal Faces’ content for the last decade. The exhibit will be on display from September 10th to October 9th at San Francisco’s famous Luggage Store Gallery, with an opening reception for the public on Friday September 10th from 6-8pm. Many of the artists will be in attendance and complimentary wine served.

“Together these artists represent a visual history of what we’ve been doing here at Fecal Face for the last ten years,” says John Trippe, the website’s founder, “And we’re honored that Luggage Store Gallery is hosting the event. T heir 23 year history and influence in the San Francisco art scene is a huge inspiration.”

The after party at Mezzanine (444 Jessie St) beginning at 9pm is a short one block walk from The Luggage Store and will feature live music from Kelly Stoltz, Sonny Smith, and Ty Segall with DJ Ted Shred spinning records.. A suggested donation $8 at the door (no one turned away for lack of funds) will get you a raffle ticket with a chance to win original artwork from artists such as Jeremy Fish and David Choe along with clothing donated by Upper Playground and other art related prizes. Slideshows of Fecal Face’s 10 yrs online will be displayed and patrons will be invited to participate in video and photo documentaries focused on Fecal Face’s 10 influential years.

More about Fecal Face

“FECAL FACE DOT COM 10 YEAR ANNIVERSARY SHOW”
Friday, September 10, 2010, 6:00-8:00pm
The Luggage Store Gallery
1007 Market Street @ 6th street, San Francisco
Gallery hours: Wed-Sat 12-5pm

www.FecalFace.com
www.LuggageStoreGallery.org

“FECAL FACE DOT COM 10 YEAR ANNIVERSARY SHOW”