Lot description
無題（盆花） Untitled (White Flower Pot) 簽名畫背：E. MARTINEZ UNTITLED OIL, ACRYLIC, SPRAY, SILICONE 2010 Signed reverse E. MARTINEZ, titled UNTITLED, inscribed OIL, ACRYLIC, SPRAY, SILICONE and dated 2010 當代藝術家－艾迪．馬丁內斯（Eddie Martinez），這個以拉丁語發音的名字之前在亞洲的知名度並不高。他像是藝術市場的一匹黑馬，帶有街頭塗鴉的精神、神秘的色彩。2019 年時正值42歲的馬丁內斯戲劇化的晉級為百萬美元之列的藝術家，一幅名為《高空飛行的鳥》（High Flying Bird）的三米半巨幅（逾 500 號）油畫，在2019年11月在香港夜拍拍出1572.5萬港元（約200萬美元）的耀眼成績，2020年7月因肺炎疫情延後的香港拍賣，馬丁內斯的兩米四（約200號）大作《佛羅里達#2》（Florida#2）繼續拍出百萬美元的行情。2020年1月台北當代 Taipei Dangdai藝術博覽會舉辦第二屆活動，未演先轟動，吸引更多家世界級畫廊參與。具有法國背景的貝浩登畫廊（Perrotin）在其展位發表了馬丁內斯「花予台灣」（Flowers for Taiwan）系列新作，色彩斑斕塗鴉、個性化線條筆觸的單一經典主題「靜物畫」，VIP首日預覽會全數作品火速售罄，成為當天會場上最受關注的個展之一。 過去三年間，馬丁內斯也受機構中心的重視，推出有五個博物館大型個展：從2017年麻州的戴維斯博物館（Davis Museum）的「螞蟻野餐」（Ants at a Picknic）個展、紐約素描中心（The Drawing Center）的「工作室牆」（Studio Wall）紙上作品展；2018年在紐約布朗克斯博物館（Bronx Museum）「覆蓋以白」（White Outs）雕塑和繪畫近作展；還有2019年底特律當代藝術博物館「快速艾迪新繪畫」（Fast Eddie: New Paintings），以及和上海余德耀美術館（YuzMuseum）「遊宴」（Open Feast）個展。馬丁內斯的收藏家早期以歐美市場為主，過去兩年之間亞洲市場有諸多年輕世代藏家的加入，包括台灣知名藝人周杰倫等。馬丁內斯的其他知名收藏家與機構，包括了世界智慧財產權界知名人物約旦的阿布格扎拉Abu Ghazaleh、英國倫敦保險公司 Hiscox、倫敦的薩奇收藏The Saatchi Collection、拉丁美洲最重要的私人當代藝術收藏─胡美斯收藏La Colección Júmex，以及美國洛杉磯的馬其亞諾藝術基金會The Marciano Collection 等。 馬丁內斯的成長背景有些周折。1977 年出生於美國康乃狄克州的格羅頓Groton，童年時住在紐約布魯克林區，成長的過程則遍布美國各州，曾待過佛州，麻州，德州和加州等。後來主要工作和生活都回到紐約布魯克林區，與知名的當代藝術家山姆．莫耶（Sam Moyer）結婚，2019年生下一子亞瑟，「亞瑟」的名字正是 2020年夏天兩人在舊金山聯展的畫展名稱。2005年28歲時舉辦了生平的首次個展，一檔在瑞典斯德哥爾摩，一檔在美國波士頓。主題為具象的人物、靜物、動物、曼荼羅、圓桌面，粗黑線條勾勒，活潑帶有卡通模樣的童趣。他對線條與色彩的大膽運用，甚獲好評。2010年開始擺脫具象，2012年則全心開始投入抽象畫，2013年是關鍵的時期，他嘗試了雕塑的作品，把他創作中對線條、構圖與色彩探索後的立體呈現。日常生活的物件的組合，鑄造成銅件，以色彩賦予雕塑生命，在拼組與構成的過程中進行物質文化的探索。 2015 開始使用絲網印刷（silkscreen），得以將繪描素描轉譯放大，產生豐富的意象。2016年「情書系列」（Love Letter Series），像是放大版的筆記本，圖文交錯，有一種親密的情感。2018 年「覆蓋以白」（White Outs）十分前衛顛覆，大膽以白色覆蓋，或者消除色彩、圖樣，達到破壞的內涵，在藝術家眼中，移除、抹去本身不是目的，那是構圖時不可或缺的部分。一種新的繪畫元素與概念，代表著創作生涯的重要轉折。2020年因 COVID-19疫情，他的「家庭作業」（Home Work）系列線上個展，則反映封關期間的小型作品。馬丁內斯的畫作題目非常率性，經常是當下的生命狀態，線條與色彩強烈、感性而帶有天真的浪漫情懷。 「盆花」是馬丁內斯從早期到近期各階段皆喜愛的主題，從繁至簡，演繹不同年代的生命經驗與成熟狀態。是次拍品《無題》（盆花）創作於2010年，為藝術家從具象走向抽象的關鍵轉折創作。背景留白不填上色彩，誇大花朵、葉子的比例，平面化、卡通化的塗鴉，還有黑色輪廓線描邊稚拙趣味卻無比自信。提及從具象繪畫到抽象繪畫的轉變，馬丁內斯說：「我的確必須深入研究這些繪畫，才能更清楚它們，發揮它們的潛力。因為我不必然需要知道圖像會呈現什麼樣貌，不知道當我一遍又一遍地畫一束鮮花，律動會像現在一樣容易。」（節錄自Ravenel 季刊第32期） Prized by art institutions in the past three years, Martinez has launched large-scale solo exhibitions at five museums including: Ants at a Picknic at Davis Museum in Massachusetts, Studio Wall at the Drawing Center in New York in 2017, White Outs featuring recent works of sculptures and paintings at Bronx Museum in New York in 2018, and, for 2019, Fast Eddie: New Paintings at the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit, and the Open Feast solo exhibition at Yuz Museum in Shanghai. In the early years, collectors of Martinez's works mainly came from the European and American markets. In the last two years, many young collectors in the Asian market have also joined the fray, including well-known Taiwanese singer/composer Jay Chou. Other renowned individual and institutional collectors of Martinez include: Jordan's Abu Ghazaleh, who is well-known in the circle of world intellectual property rights, London insurance company Hiscox, the Saatchi Collection in London, Colección Júmex, which is the most important private contemporary art collector in Latin America, and the Marciano Collection of Los Angeles, USA. Martinez has had some ups and downs in his life. Born in Groton, Connecticut in 1977, he spent his childhood in Brooklyn, New York, and lived in various states while growing up, including Florida, Massachusetts, Texas, and California. Afterwards, he returned to Brooklyn, New York to live and work. He is married to famed contemporary artist Sam Moyer. They had a son named Arthur in 2019 after which their joint exhibition in San Francisco was titled. Martinez held his first solo exhibitions in 2005 when he was 28 years old, at Stockholm, Sweden and in Boston, U.S.A. The subjects of his paintings were figurative people, still life objects, animals, mandalas, and round table tops outlined in thick black lines characteristic of lively cartoon styles. His bold use of lines and colors has won him favorable reviews. In 2010, he began to move away from figurative painting and devoted himself entirely to abstract painting by 2012. 2013 was a critical period for him as he made attempts at sculptural art, turning his explorations of lines, composition and colors into 3D format. Combinations of daily objects are cast into bronze pieces and endowed life with colors, conducting an exploration of material culture in the process of assembly and composition. In 2015, he began to experiment with silk-screening, which allowed enlargement of sketch drawings and production of rich imageries. His Love Letter Series in 2016 was like an enlarged version of a notebook with texts and drawings that created a sense of intimacy. Meanwhile, the avant-garde White Outs exhibition in 2018 was boldly covered in white, or an elimination of colors and images to achieve the implication of destruction. In the eyes of the artist, removal and erasure are not the objectives, but an indispensable part of composition, a type of new painting element and concept representing a major turning point of his creative career. His Home Work series exhibited online in 2020 includes small-size works reflective of the period of closure due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The subjects of Martinez's paintings are quite straightforward, often representing his situation in life at the moment, with bold lines and colors while conveying sensuality as well as a sense of romantic innocence. Since the early stage of his career, Eddie Martinez has always loved to paint potted flowers. From complex to simple, Martinez’s paintings walk us through his life experience and state of maturity at different ages. The painting to be auctioned titled Untitled (White Flower Pot) was created in 2010, which was a critical period when the artist transitioned from a figurative to abstract style. The painting features a blank background with 2D cartoon-like doodles of exaggerated proportions of flowers and leaves filtered through black contours and childlike brushwork, which exude extreme confidence. On changing from figurative to abstract painting Martinez says: "I really have to go into the paintings a little bit more to figure them out, to pull their potential out of them. Because I don't necessarily know what the imagery is and I don't know what the moves are going to be as readily as I did when painting a bouquet of flowers over and overand over again." (Excerpt from Ravenel quarterly No. 32)
