Born in 1953 in Penjamo village, a Yaqui settlement in Scottsdale, Arizona, Mario Martinez is an enrolled member of the Pascua Yaqui Tribe of Arizona. He received his BFA from the School of Art, Arizona State University in 1979, and, in 1985, an MFA from the San Francisco Art Institute.

A great admirer of the New York School and Abstract Expressionists, Martinez creates expansive canvases with writhing forms that often echo the turbulent surfaces of Gorky or de Kooning.

While he avoids direct references to Yaqui traditions, cryptic allusions permeate his work. “I know people expect figuration from Natives,” the artist says, noting that abstraction itself has “been in Indian and Indigenous cultures forever.” In Yaqui Flashback II (1991), branching forms create a lattice for cascades of color that evoke sunsets, verdant trees, sky, and water. Stick forms are adorned with Indigenous patterns. The painting’s surface integrates lace and glitter as subtle nods to materials used in Yaqui ceremonies. Despite the influence of Spanish Jesuits in the 16th century, Yaqui religion maintained a deep, foundational reverence for nature that is detectable in many of the artist’s works. “Our most ancient spiritual and ceremonial traditions honor the earth and the heavens,” says Martinez.

The monumental painting Brooklyn (2004) is frenetic, governed by density and angularity. A thicket of I-beams form what could be an above-ground MTA platform. Serpentine shapes weave through the composition while a single dark flower hints at the pre-Christian Yaqui concept of sea ania, or the flower world: a beautiful, ever-present parallel reality. The hectic city is framed within the broader context of the cosmos and nature, to which it belongs in the final analysis. “I’m part of a 40,000-year tradition,” Martinez says of his practice, which comfortably integrates the pre- and post-colonial American painting traditions.

Since 1991, Mario Martinez’s work has appeared in over 48 solo and group exhibitions at prestigious venues such as the Denver Art Museum (1995, 1998), the Montclair Art Museum, (2018–2020), and the Eiteljorg Museum (2015–2016, 2017–2018, Indianapolis). In 2005, he was the subject of a major mid-career retrospective at the Smithsonian Institution's National Museum of the American Indian (New York). He has received numerous grants and awards, including a Native Arts Research Fellowship, (1998, National Museum of the American Indian); an Artist in Residence Fellowship (2001–2002, National Museum of the American Indian); a Joan Mitchell Foundation CALL Grant (2013–2014); a Robert Rauschenberg Foundation Residency (2014–2015); and the Murray Reich Distinguished Artist Award (2017, New York Foundation for the Arts). Martinez’s work is featured in the collections of numerous museums and institutions across the country, such as the Museum of Contemporary Native American Art (Santa Fe); the Eiteljorg Museum (Indianapolis); the Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian (Washington, D.C.); the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation (Chicago); and the Heard Museum (Phoenix), among others.

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1953

Born: Penjamo, Scottsdale, Arizona

Lives and works in New York, New York

EDUCATION

1979

Arizona State University, Tempe

1985

San Francisco Art Institute

SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS

1998

American Indian Arts, San Francisco

2003

Mario Martinez: The Last San Francisco Paintings, Cakewalk Gallery, Phoenix

2005

New Tribe: New York: From Tradition to Transcendence, National Museum of the American Indian George Gustav Heye Center, New York, January 29–May 8

2010–2011

From AZ to NYC: A Visual Journey By Mario Martinez, Mesa Arts Center, Mesa, AZ, September 10, 2010—January 30 2011

2014

The Desert Never Left the City, Museum of Contemporary Native Art, Santa Fe, August 22–December 31

2017

OTA Gallery, Santa Fe, New Mexico, August 15 – September 17

2024

Mario Martinez: Mindscape, Garth Greenan Gallery, New York, New York, January 11–February 24

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

1991–1993

Our Land/Ourselves: American Indian Contemporary Artists, University Art Gallery, University of Albany, New York, February 1–March 17, 1991; Robert Hull Fleming Museum, University of Vermont, Burlington, April 12–May 24, 1991; The Art Museum at Stony Brook, New York, July 1–August 11, 1991; State University of New York, New Paltz, September 10–October 10, 1991; Syracuse University, Syracuse, New York, October 25–December 1, 1991; University Art Museum, State University of New York, Binghamton, January 17–February 17, 1992; Plattsburgh Art Museum, Plattsburgh, New York, March 7–April 18, 1992; Tyler Art Gallery, Oswego, New York, September 3–October 20, 1992; Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York, November 3–December 17, 1992; Fairfield University, Fairfield, Connecticut, January 10–February 13, 1993; Rochester Museum and Science Center, Rochester, New York, April 7–May 16, 1993

We, the Human Beings: 27 Contemporary Native American Artists, The College of Wooster Museum, Wooster, Ohio

1992–1994

The Submuloc Show/Columbus Wohs, Museum of Art, University of Oregon, Eugene, January 5, 1992–February 23, 1992; Heard Museum, Phoenix, Arizona, May 15, 1993–September 12, 1993; Collier County Museum, Naples, Florida, April 17, 1992–May 22, 1992; Fondo del Sol Visual Arts Center, Washington, D.C., June 6, 1992–July 11, 1992; Guilford Native American Art Gallery, Greensboro, North Carolina, July 19, 1992–August 23, 1992; Concordia College Art Department, Moorhead, Minnesota, September 4, 1992–October 9, 1992; Minneapolis Institute of Arts, October 24, 1992–January 3, 1993; University Art Galleries, University of South Dakota, Vermillion, January 17, 1993–February 26, 1993; American Indian Contemporary Arts, San Francisco, March 12, 1993–May 1, 1993; Sacred Circle Gallery, Daybreak Star Arts Center, Seattle, September 25, 1993–October 30, 1993; Schneider Museum of Art, Southern Oregon State College, Ashland, November 11, 1993–December 17, 1993; Spokane Falls Community College, Washington, January 15, 1994–February 28, 1994

1994–1995

Books by Native Artists, American Indian Community House Gallery, New York

1995

Expressions of Spirit, Wheelwright Museum, Santa Fe, February 4–May 10

Living Tapestry: Contemporary Native American Artists, Laney College Art Gallery, Oakland, California

Mario Martinez: Visual Interpretations of Yaqui Myths & Legends, American Indian Contemporary Arts, San Francisco

Artists Who Are Indian, Denver Art Museum, Colorado

1996

I Stand in the Center of the Good, American Indian Community House Gallery, New York

1996–1997

Native Streams, Jan Cicero Gallery, Chicago, January 12–February 24, 1996

1997

New Art from Native America, Center Gallery, Bucknell University, Lewisburg, Pennsylvania, February 1–23

Honoring Diversity: Multicultural Perspectives, Koret Gallery, Palo Alto, California

1999

Fall, Jan Cicero Gallery, Chicago

2000–2001

who stole the tepee?, National Museum of the American Indian, New York, October 1, 2000–January 21, 2001

2001

Reopening the West, Rockwell Museum of Western Art, Corning, New York

2002

Rewritings: Painting from Native America, Artfit Exhibition Space, Phoenix, February 15–April

Contemporary Artists Federation, Saitama Museum of Modern Art, Saitama, Japan

AlieNation, American Indian Community House Gallery, New York

2002–2003

Common Ground: Contemporary Native American Art from the Permanent Collection and Private Collections, Tucson Museum of Art, Arizona, October 18, 2002–May 18, 2003

2003

Lasting Impressions: Print Portfolio of Ten Contemporary Native American Artists, Phippen Art Museum, Prescott, Arizona. May 10–June 13

Indian Market Show, Lewallen Gallery, Santa Fe

2004–2007

Native Views: Influences of Modern Culture, Artrain USA, Ann Arbor, Michigan 

2005–2006

Gifts to Celebrate, Heard Museum, Phoenix, October 2005–July 2006

2007

Mario Martinez and Steven Yazzie, Berlin Gallery, Heard Museum, Phoenix

Native New Yorkers, New England School of Art and Design Gallery, Suffolk University, Boston, February 14–March 16

2007–2008

Liz Hernandez Contemporary Fine Art, Scottsdale, Arizona

2008

Native Voices: Contemporary Indigenous Art, Kentler International Drawing Center, Brooklyn, New York, February 8–March 23; Salena and Humanities Galleries, Long Island University, Brooklyn, New York, March 6–29; Five Myles International Drawing Space, Brooklyn, New York, March 8–April 21

2009

The Importance of In/Visibility: Recent Work by Native American Artists Living in New York City, Amerinda, New York, April 11–May 9

2009–2010

Personal Journeys: American Indian Landscapes, Heard Museum North Scottsdale, Scottsdale, Arizona, October 22, 2009–March 14, 2010

2010

In/Sight 2010, Chelsea Art Museum, New York, January 15–February 13

2010–2011

Vantage Point: The Contemporary Native Art Collection, National Museum of the American Indian, Washington DC, September 25, 2010–August 7, 2011

2011

Vicariously Through You, Wilmer Jennings Gallery at Kenkeleba, New York, March 9–April 30

2011–2012

Something Old, Something New, Nothing Borrowed: New Acquisitions from the Heard Museum Collection, Heard Museum, Phoenix, April 2, 2011–March 18, 2012

The Spirit Within: Creation, Community, Renewal in Indigenous Art, Manresa Gallery, San Francisco, November 13, 2011–February 12, 2012

2013

The Old Becomes the New: New York Contemporary Art Movement and the New York School, Wilmer Jennings Gallery at Kenkeleba, New York, April 3–June 2

2014

New Stories from Native America, Idyllwild Arts Academy, Idyllwild, California, June 29–July 5

2015–2016

CONVERSATIONS: The Eiteljorg Contemporary Art Fellowship, Eiteljorg Museum, Indianapolis, November 13, 2015–February 14, 2016

2017–2018

Native Art Now!, Eiteljorg Museum, Indianapolis, November 15, 2017–January 28, 2019

2018–2019

Widening Circles: Portraits from the Joan Mitchell Foundation at 25 Years, Joan Mitchell Foundation, New York, December 6, 2018–September 27, 2019 

Celebrations, OTA Contemporary, Santa Fe, December 7, 2018–January 27, 2019 

2018–2020

Constructing Identity in America (1766-2017), Montclair Art Museum, Montclair, New Jersey, September 1, 2018–January 5, 2020

2019–2021

Stretching the Canvas: Eight Decades of Native Painting, National Museum of the American Indian, New York, November 16, 2019–Fall 2021

2020

Survivance and Sovereignty On Turtle Island: Engaging with Contemporary Native American Art, Kupferberg Holocaust Center, Queensborough Community College, Queens, New York, January 21–May 21

Habitat California: Flora and Fauna, Palos Verdes Art Center, Rancho Palos Verdes, California, February 8–May 23 

2022

FIRST: Native American Artists of Arizona, Civic Center Public Gallery, Scottsdale Civic Center Library, Arizona, January 10–March 30

2023–2024

The Land Carries Our Ancestors: Contemporary Art by Native Americans, National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C., September 22, 2023–January 15, 2024; New Britain Museum of American Art, New Britain, Connecticut, April 19–September 15, 2024.

2024–2025

The Brooklyn Artists Exhibition, Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn, New York, October 4, 2024–January 26, 2025

Flow States – LA TRIENAL 2024, El Museo del Barrio, New York, New York, October 10, 2024–February 9, 2025

SELECTED COLLECTIONS

Museum of Contemporary Native American Art, Santa Fe

Eiteljorg Museum, Indianapolis, Indiana

Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian, Washington, D.C.

The John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation, Chicago

Heard Museum, Phoenix, Arizona

Phoenix City Hall Collection, Arizona

Scottsdale City Hall Collection, Arizona

Rockwell Museum, Corning, New York

Tucson Museum of Art, Arizona

University of Arizona, Tucson

Snite Museum, University of Notre Dame, South Bend, Indiana

Bowdoin College Museum of Art, Brunswick, Maine

BOOKS AND CATALOGUES

Abbott, Lawrence, ed. I Stand in the Center of the Good: Interviews with Contemporary Native American Artists. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press, 1994.

Campbell, Suzan and Kathleen Ash-Milby. People, Places and Ideas: The Rockwell Museum of Western Art. Corning, NY: Rockwell Museum of Western Art, 2001.

Eiteljorg Museum. Conversations: Eiteljorg Contemporary Art Fellowship 2015. Indianapolis: Eiteljorg Museum, 2015.

Everett, Deborah and Elayne Zorn. Encyclopedia of Native American Artists: Artists of the American Mosaic. Westport, CT and London: Greenwood Press, 2008.

Martine, David Bunn. No Reservation: New York, Contemporary Native American Art Movement. New York: Amerinda, 2017.

McMaster, Gerald. New Tribe, New York: The Urban Vision Quest. New York: Smithsonian National Museum of the American Indian, 2005.

Museum of Contemporary Native Arts. Manifestations: New Native Art Criticism. Santa Fe: Museum of Contemporary Native Arts, 2011.

Nahwoosky, Fred and Richard Hill, Sr., eds. Who Stole the Tee Pee? Phoenix: Atlatl, Inc., 2000.

Osburn-Bigfeather, Joanna, Rayna Green, Gregory Cajete, and Lucy Lippard. Native Views: Influences of Modern Culture. Ann Arbor: Artrain, 2004.

Passalacqua, Veronica, Kate Morris, and James H. Nottage. Native Art Now!: Developments In Contemporary Native American Art Since 1992. Indianapolis: Eiteljorg Museum, 2017.

Penn, W. S., ed. The Telling of the World: Native American Stories and Art. New York: Tabori and Change, 1996.

Penney, David W. and George C. Longfish. Native American Art. New York: Hugh Lauter Levin Associates, 1994.

Quick-to-See Smith, Jaune, et al., eds. The Land Carries Our Ancestors: Contemporary Art by Native Americans. Washington D.C.: National Gallery of Art, 2023.

Robertson, Jean and Craig McDaniel. Painting as a Language: Material, Technique, Form, Content. Fort Worth: Harcourt College Publishers, 2000.

Zurko, Kathleen McManus, ed. We, The Human Beings: 27 Contemporary Native American Artists. Wooster, OH: College of Wooster Art Museum, 1992. 

PERIODICALS

“Abstract Visions.” Southwest Art, April 2000.

Guiliano, Charles. “Mario Martinez: Native New Yorker.” Maverick-arts.com, June 3, 2006.

Montiel, Anya. "Mario Martinez: Mindscape, Garth Greenan Gallery." First American Art, March 2024.

Schaaf, Gregory. “Four Painters.” Native Peoples Magazine, January/February 2005.

Tatol, Sean. “Mario Martinez: Mindscape- Garth Greenan.” Manhattan Art Review, February 2, 2024.