Biography
Alexander Martínez has developed a promising career for more than three decades and has received international recognition in Bolivia, Canada, Colombia, Switzerland, and the US.
His early works showed more figurative art, but then he started using space as a compositional element while his interest in cities progressed. In his later work he introduces an important turn in his representation of space, showing urban cartography through an aerial perspective. He brings his bird-eye vision of Caracas’ urban chaos through graphic narratives, delving into the connections between people, geography, and the daily dynamics of the metropolis.
The urban fabric is like an irregular and moving maze, totally remote from the colonial urban grid which traditionally defines the design of Latin American cities. It is a space that’s progressively becoming more complex. The horror vacui of the composition points to a collective neurosis in the middle of a conglomerate of symbols, buildings, streets, objects, daily chores and groups of anonymous beings.
He uses graffiti as one of the most powerful counter-cultural expressions, standing out as a pictorial element, but also letting it interrupt the limits of the painting. It breaks with the square structure of the canvas frame and changes with other mediums that allow different shapes to exist such as textured paints, soda cans, and gum, among others. The large dimensions of many of his works welcomes the extension of an excessive and open city.