“Easy Grape” (2019), ink, gouache, collage, charcoal, and matte gel on recycled produce box, 27 x 30 inches. Photo by Michael Underwood. All images © Narsiso Martinez, courtesy of Buffalo AKG Museum, shared with permission
When he was 20 years old, Narsiso Martinez immigrated to the U.S. from Oaxaca, Mexico, with a powerful resolve to learn English and pursue a university education. “I wanted to break the cycle,” he says. “In my family of six siblings, I wanted to be the difference and have a college degree before having my own family.”
At 29, Martinez finished high school, and in 2012, he earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts. And while he continued his education in pursuit of an MFA, he began to work seasonally in the apple orchards of eastern Washington state. Drawing from the visual language of produce brands and relationships with people he met on the farms, he developed vivid mixed-media works emphasizing the individuals who perform the labor necessary to fill grocery aisles, restaurants, and refrigerators around the country.
“Fruit Catcher” (2021), ink, charcoal, and gold leaf on cardboard produce box, 20 x 15 1/2 x 4 1/2 inches. Photo by Yubo Dong
Martinez’s solo exhibition From These Hands/De Estas Manos at Buffalo AKG Art Museum brings together pieces completed within the past few years, focusing on produce boxes as both collage components and as framing devices for striking portraits. He often portrays his subjects wearing baseball caps and scarves over their faces, which protect them from the elements.
The artist typically works from photographs of people he knows personally, rendering his subjects in charcoal and ink. He often applies gold leaf in addition to the bright logos of various produce companies, juxtaposing cheap labels and cardboard often destined for the landfill with an opulent aesthetic evocative of Western Baroque paintings.
The face coverings also draw attention to the workers’ anonymity while emphasizing each person’s often unacknowledged role in keeping food on Americans’ tables. Martinez depicts fellow immigrants and stalwart workers, celebrating the labor of marginalized people.
From These Hands continues through April 22. Find more on the artist’s Instagram.
“Always Fresh” (2018), ink, charcoal, gouache, gold leaf, collage on reclaimed produce boxes, 92 1/2 x 278 inches. Photo by Michael Underwood
Detail of “Always Fresh” (2018)
“Checker Leading the Crowd” (2023), charcoal and simple leaf on produce cardboard, 23 1/2 x 15 inches. Photo by Yubo Dong
“Golden Crop” (2021), ink, gouache, charcoal, and acrylics on juice carton. 11 3/4 x 15 1/4 inches. Photo by Yubo Dong
“Nature’s Candy Picker” (2023) ink, gouache, charcoal, and simple leaf in cherry box, 23 1/2 x 15 1/2 x 6 inches. Photo by Yubo Dong
“With Care” (2020), ink, gouache, charcoal, and matte gel on found produce box, 35 x 38 inches. Photo by Joshua Schaedel
“Paula” (2021), ink, gouache, charcoal, and acrylic on produce cardboard box, 16 x 27 3/4 inches. Photo by Yubo Dong
“Unlimited Edition” (2023), triptych: ink, charcoal, and simple leaf on berry boxes, 15 x 10 x 4 1/2 inches each. Photo by Spike Mafford
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