Biography
Joe Martinez an American of Cuban descent born in Miami in 1976. He currently lives and works in Miami Florida. His paintings are inspired by the methodology of graffiti removal. Martinez observes how cities clean-up crews destroy one art form but unintentionally create another. The artist constructs his paintings by combining earlier influences with a figurative style of painting referred to as buffs, creating contemporary patterns that result in a post-modern aesthetic. Through his experience and study of modern day contemporary culture, he applies a new meaning of expressionism to his work. His layered and complex, collaborative process of creating “Graffiti Removal” is composed on wood and canvas. His paintings are a creation of multilayered walls seen in the urban landscapes. His painterly gestures incorporate concrete elements, acrylic, enamel, oil, compound and ink creating overlapping styles of free-floating patches of color or “Buffs”. He actualizes four stylistic forms of buffs in his paintings referred to as “ symmetrical” which are recognizable geometric squares and rectangles. “ Ghosting” in which the remover traces the lettering but the general form and shape is emphasized. “ Radical” the remover uses neither geometric nor guide lines to remove the writing often referred to as an outside the lines removal. “ Blur” is when the remover uses paint stripper and a cloth to wipe the writing but leaves a cloudy appearance on the wall. Martinez’s paintings allow viewers to visualize the progressive intriguing movement of modern art in the 21st century.
Artist Statement
Ubiquitous shapes found in my surroundings influence the work I create that I consider unique and intriguing. The patterns and techniques, which I emerge in my work, referred to as “Buffs” are shapes such as symmetrical, radical, ghosting and blur, which I observe on industrial cityscapes. Several of these stylistic forms have been identified by filmmaker Matt McCormick. My paintings are a re-enactment of street walls; I first recreate the textured walls, then the writing and then the writing is removed by buffs using rollers and brushes, which represents the subconscious art of graffiti removal. Graffiti removal can be viewed as a valuable form of artistic expression though it is not validated or recognized as such by the mainstream public. In my work I create buffed images because they have their own shapes, styles, characteristics and stories behind them. When I compose my paintings I use intuitive aesthetic thinking, imagining myself as two characters one being the person defacing the property and the other being the city employee. I believe that art is purely objective, I consider art as not an act of imagination but of observation, perception and manipulation. I as an artist am attracted to certain kinds of forms even being minimalisms and simplistic. I do my art because I love all the things I get out of it, the motivation, and the satisfaction of tangible creativity, the feeling of being in the moment and to see where it takes me.
