Eddie Martinez has emerged as one of the most compelling painters of his generation, developing a practice that bridges gestural abstraction, figuration, and visual improvisation. His work is immediately recognizable for its raw energy, bold surfaces, and layered compositions, where cartoon-like forms, symbols, and painterly marks collide. Operating between spontaneity and structure, Martinez constructs paintings that feel both instinctive and rigorously composed. His work draws from a wide range of sources—graffiti, comics, art history, and personal memory—resulting in a visual language that is at once direct, playful, and deeply rooted in the history of painting.

Introduction

Eddie Martinez was born in 1977 in Groton, Connecticut, and lives and works in New York. He began exhibiting in the early 2000s and quickly gained attention for a distinctive approach that resisted clear categorization.

From the outset, Martinez positioned himself outside strict movements. His work engages with abstraction and figuration simultaneously, often within the same composition. This hybridity has become a defining feature of his practice, aligning him with a broader resurgence of expressive painting while maintaining a highly individual voice.

Artistic Practice and Technique

A self-taught artist who is well known for his vibrant colors, dynamic brushstrokes, and impeccable intuition, energy exudes from the brisk markings he makes with acrylic, oil, spray paint, Sharpies, and even baby wipes. Martinez’s practice reflects elements of historical movements such as action painting and neo-expressionism, whilst spontaneously alternating between traditional and unconventional modes of painting. Constructing a fantastical world through a plethora of playful drawings, bold paintings, and endearing creaturelike bronzes, Martinez continues to revitalize his practice on a regular basis.

Martinez’s technique is central to his work. His paintings are built through accumulation, layers of oil, enamel, spray paint, and sometimes collage elements are applied, erased, and reworked over time. One of the defining aspects of his process is physical engagement with the surface. He often paints on both canvas and unconventional supports such as metal or shaped panels, and frequently works on multiple pieces simultaneously. Marks are made quickly and decisively, yet the final compositions reveal a careful orchestration of balance and tension.

His surfaces carry visible traces of revision: drips, smears, overpainting, and scraping. This gives the works a sense of immediacy while also embedding a history of their making. The tension between control and accident is fundamental—gestures appear spontaneous, yet are ultimately resolved within a structured composition.

Visual Language and Major Series

Martinez’s paintings are populated by recurring forms: eyes, skull-like faces, teeth, abstracted limbs, and looping lines. These elements often appear cartoonish or naïve at first glance, but their repetition creates a complex symbolic vocabulary. This ambiguity is central to his work. Forms emerge, dissolve, and reconfigure across the surface, creating compositions that feel both immediate and unstable.

Blockhead Paintings

The Blockhead paintings are among Martinez’s most iconic works. Characterized by simplified, mask-like faces and bold graphic elements, these compositions establish his signature visual language. The blockhead form acts as an anchor within the composition, around which gestural marks and abstract elements circulate. While the imagery appears direct, the paintings are structurally complex, balancing density and openness across the surface. These works have been widely exhibited and are particularly sought after in the market, forming a core body of his practice.

Multi-Panel and Modular Works

Martinez has developed a number of multi-panel works, in which compositions extend across several canvases or shaped supports. These works emphasize fragmentation and continuity, allowing forms to move across boundaries while maintaining a cohesive rhythm. The use of shaped panels further destabilizes the traditional rectangular format, reinforcing the sense of movement and improvisation.

Works on Metal

A distinctive aspect of Martinez’s practice is his use of metal supports. Painting on aluminum or steel introduces a different surface quality—smoother, more reflective, and less absorbent than canvas. This shift affects both the application of paint and the final appearance of the work. Colors sit differently on metal, and the interaction between surface and gesture becomes more pronounced. These works often feel sharper and more graphic, while retaining the physical intensity of his mark-making.

Recent Large-Scale Works

In more recent years, Martinez has expanded his scale, producing increasingly ambitious compositions. These works amplify the physicality of his process, with larger gestures and more complex layering. At this scale, the tension between abstraction and figuration becomes even more pronounced. The viewer is drawn into the surface, navigating between recognizable forms and purely painterly passages.

Influences and Context

Known for his energetic use of line and manipulation of color in his paintings and sculpture, Eddie Martinez draws inspiration from a wide range of influences including popular urban culture, Abstract Expressionism and Surrealism. Having spent his adolescent years making graffiti, the Brooklyn-based artist creates paintings on canvas that retain the rough, expressionistic lines and bold colors of street art. Working between representation and abstraction, he paints in oil, enamel and spray paint while often incorporating found objects. Trained as both a draftsman and painter, his large-scale canvases demonstrate a rich, intuitive command of pigment while maintaining the fast-paced, semi-automatic qualities of drawing.

Martinez’s work engages with a broad range of influences, from Abstract Expressionism and Neo-Expressionism to street art and popular culture. Echoes of artists such as Willem de Kooning and Jean-Michel Basquiat can be felt in his gestural approach and use of figuration. At the same time, his work reflects a contemporary sensibility shaped by image saturation and visual fragmentation. His paintings do not resolve into fixed meanings but remain open, dynamic, and responsive.

Institutional Recognition and Exhibitions

Martinez’s work has been the subject of solo exhibitions at museums and institutions including the Bronx Museum of the Arts, New York, the Drawing Center, New York, Yuz Museum, Shanghai, Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit, Michigan, and the Davis Museum, Wellesley, Massachusetts. These exhibitions reflect the growing international interest in his work, particularly in Asia, where his paintings have been prominently exhibited and collected.

His works are included in public collections such as the Saatchi Collection and Hiscox Collection, London; Colección Jumex, Mexico City; the Marciano Collection, Los Angeles; the National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C., the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art, Philadelphia, Morgan Library & Museum, New York; and the Davis Museum, Wellesley.

Gallery Representation

Martinez is represented by leading international galleries, including Timothy Taylor, Mitchell-Innes & Nash, and Perrotin. These galleries have played a crucial role in expanding his global presence, with exhibitions in New York, London, Paris, Hong Kong, and Seoul.

Eddie Martinez’s work captures a renewed vitality in painting—one that embraces imperfection, immediacy, and hybridity. By combining elements of abstraction and figuration, he creates a visual language that feels both instinctive and considered. His paintings resist resolution, remaining open to interpretation while maintaining a strong physical presence. In doing so, Martinez contributes to an ongoing redefinition of painting in the 21st century, reaffirming its capacity for experimentation, expression, and reinvention.

PART I: SUMMARY

Auction Market Overview

2025 AUCTION STATISTICS
Turnover: USD 1,150,078
+6.6% vs. 2024
# Lots sold: 22
Sell-Through Rate: 71%

MARKET SEGMENTATION
Hong-Kong (74.2%) / New-York (17.5%) / London (8.3%)
(by value)

Highest Price Achieved at Auction:
High Flying Bird, 2014
Christie’s Hong-Kong: 22 November 2019
HKD 15,725,000 / USD 2,009,435

Eddie Martinez’s market has grown steadily over the past decade, supported by strong gallery representation and increasing institutional visibility. His works have performed particularly well in Asia, where demand from collectors in Hong Kong, Seoul, and mainland China has been significant. Prices for major paintings have reached high six figures and, in some cases, approached the million-dollar range at auction. His Blockhead works and large-scale compositions are especially sought after, while works on metal and multi-panel pieces attract interest for their formal innovation. The market reflects a broader appetite for expressive, materially rich painting, positioning Martinez within a generation of artists redefining contemporary abstraction.

Auction Summary

2025 Auction Highlights

22 lots sold at auction in 2025 for a turnover of USD 1,150,078. With 9 lots failing to sell, the sell-through rate is 71%. The highest price for 2025 has been achieved by For Richard D. Marshall, Rest in Paintings, a gigantic mixed-media work on canvas dated 2014, sold at Christie’s Hong-Kong, on 26 September 2025, for HKD 2,286,000 (USD 293,830).

2025 Top 3 Lots

2 lots sold for more than USD 100,000, generating a cumulative turnover of USD 571,335, representing 49.7% of the total turnover of 2025.

2024 Auction Highlights

18 lots sold at auction in 2024 for a total turnover of USD 1,078,637. With 3 lots failing to sell, the sell-through rate is 86%. The highest price for 2024 was achieved at Ravenel in Taipei, on 2 June 2024, when Untitled (Flower Pot), a painting dated 2020 sold for TWD 12,000,000 (USD 370,370).

2024 Top 3 Lots

3 lots sold for more than USD 100,000, generating a cumulative turnover of USD 629,835, representing 58.4% of the total for 2024.

2023 Auction Highlights

10 lots sold at auction in 2023 for a total turnover of USD 1,119,310. With 5 lots failing to sell, the sell-through rate is 67%. The highest price was achieved at Christie’s in Shanghai on 23 September 2023, when Untitled (Flower pot with blue background), a painting dated 2020, sold for CNY 2,520,000 (USD 345,300).

2023 Top 3 Lots

4 lots sold for more than USD 100,000, generating a cumulative turnover of USD 924,392, representing 82.6% of the total turnover for 2023.

2022 Auction Highlights

16 lots sold at auction in 2022 for a total turnover of USD 3,693,532. With 1 lot failing to sell, the sell-through rate is 94%. The highest price has been achieved at Christie’s in Hong-Kong, on 26 May 2022 when Untitled (Flower Pot with Yellow Background), a painting dated 2020 sold for HKD 5,040,000 (USD 642,046).

2022 Top 3 Lots

13 lots sold for more than USD 1 million, generating a cumulative turnover of USD 3,492,645, representing 94.6% of the total turnover for 2022.

2021 Auction Highlights

30 lots sold at auction in 2021 for a total turnover of USD 8,844,552. With 3 lots failing to sell, the sell-through rate is 91%. The highest price has been achieved at Christie’s in Hong-Kong on 24 May 2021, when a painting dated 2009, They Build You Up to Knock You Down, sold for HKD 6,000,000 (USD 772,690).

2021 Top 3 Lots

12 lots sold for more than USD 200,000, generating a cumulative turnover of USD 5,857,907, representing 66.2% of the total turnover for 2021.

Top Lots

#1. High Flying Bird, 2014

Christie’s Hong-Kong: 22 November 2019
Estimated: HKD 1,200,000 – 1,800,000
HKD 15,725,000 / USD 2,009,435

EDDIE MARTINEZ (B. 1977) (christies.com)

EDDIE MARTINEZ (B. 1977)
High Flying Bird, 2014
Oil, enamel, spray paint, thumb tacks and paper collage on canvas
108 1/8 x 144 inches (274.6 x 365.8 cm)
Signed with the artist’s initials and dated ‘EM. 14.’ (lower right)

#2. Untitled, 2015

Ravenel Taiwan: 5 December 2020
Estimated: TWD 14,000,000 – 22,000,000
TWD 41,760,000 / USD 1,465,263

Ravenel | EDDIE MARTINEZ《Untitled》 Ravenel Autumn Auction 2020 Lot 068

EDDIE MARTINEZ (American, b. 1977)
Untitled, 2015
Oil, acrylic, silkscreen, ink, enamel and spray paint on canvas
72×108 inches (182.8 x 274.3 cm)

#3. Florida #2 (Mailbox Margie), 2018

Christie’s Hong-Kong: 9 July 2020
Estimated: HKD 2,400,000 – 3,800,000
HKD 8,285,000 / USD 1,068,840

EDDIE MARTINEZ (B. 1977) (christies.com)

EDDIE MARTINEZ (B. 1977)
Florida #2 (Mailbox Margie), 2018
Silkscreen ink, oil, spray paint, enamel and paper towel on canvas
75×96 inches (190.5 x 243.8 cm)
Signed and dated ‘E.MARTINEZ.18’ (lower right)

#4. Island I, 2014

Christie’s Hong-Kong: 1 December 2020
Estimated: HKD 3,200,000 – 5,200,000
HKD 7,690,000 / USD 992,010

EDDIE MARTINEZ (B. 1977) (christies.com)

EDDIE MARTINEZ (B. 1977)
Island I, 2014
Oil, enamel, spray paint, collage and thumb tacks on canvas
72 1/4 x 108 inches (183.5 x 274.4 cm)
Signed and dated ‘MARTINEZ. 14’ (lower right)

#5. Untitled (White Flower Pot), 2010

Ravenel Taiwan: 5 December 2020
Estimated: TWD 6,000,000 – 9,000,000
TWD 24,000,000 / USD 842,105

Ravenel | EDDIE MARTINEZ《Untitled (White Flower Pot)》 Ravenel Autumn Auction 2020 Lot 067

EDDIE MARTINEZ (American, b. 1977)
Untitled (White Flower Pot), 2010
Oil, acrylic, spray and silicone on canvas
60×48 inches (152.4 x 121.9 cm)
Signed reverse E. MARTINEZ, titled UNTITLED, inscribed OIL, ACRYLIC, SPRAY, SILICONE and dated 2010

#6. Empirical Mind State, 2009

Sotheby’s London: 11 February 2020
Estimated: GBP 100,000 – 150,000
GBP 615,000 / USD 795,030

(#45) EDDIE MARTINEZ | Empirical Mind State

EDDIE MARTINEZ
Empirical Mind State, 2009
Oil and spray paint on canvas
72×108 inches (182.8 x 274.3 cm)
Signed and dated 09
Signed with the artist’s initials and titled on the reverse
Signed on the stretcher

#7. They Build You Up to Knock You Down, 2009

Christie’s Hong-Kong: 24 May 2021
Estimated: HKD 2,000,000 – 3,000,000
HKD 6,000,000 / USD 772,688

EDDIE MARTINEZ (B. 1977) (christies.com)

EDDIE MARTINEZ (B. 1977)
They Build You Up to Knock You Down, 2009
Acrylic, oil, spray, collage, silicone on canvas
72 x 108 1/4 inches (183×275 cm)
Signed ‘EM.09’ (lower right)
Signed, titled, inscribed and dated (on the reverse)
Signed ‘E.MARTINEZ. 2009’ (on the stretcher)

#8. Christmas in July, 2016

Phillips Hong-Kong: 8 June 2021
Estimated: HKD 3,500,000 – 4,500,000
HKD 5,922,000 / USD 763,155

Eddie Martinez – 20th Century & Contemp… Lot 27 June 2021 | Phillips

PART II: AUCTION RESULTS

2026 Auction Results

Bufly No. 5 (Big Body), 2021

Sotheby’s New-York: 25 February 2026
Estimated: USD 70,000 – 100,000
USD 83,200

Eddie Martinez | Bufly No. 5 (Big Body) | Contemporary Curated | 2026

EDDIE MARTINEZ (b. 1977)
Bufly No. 5 (Big Body), 2021
Oil, acrylic, spray paint and silkscreen on canvas
96×75 inches (243.8 x 190.5 cm)
Signed with the artist’s initials and dated 21 (upper left)

Untitled, 2010

Sotheby’s New-York: 27 February 2026
Estimated: USD 50,000 – 70,000
USD 64,000

Eddie Martinez | Untitled | Contemporary Discoveries | 2026 |

EDDIE MARTINEZ (b. 1977)
Untitled, 2010
Acrylic and oil on canvas
48×60 inches (121.9 x 152.4 cm)
Signed and dated 10 (lower left)

Untitled, 2021

Phillips New-York: 28 February 2026
Estimated: USD 10,000 – 15,000
USD 19,350

Eddie Martinez Modern & Contemporary Art

EDDIE MARTINEZ
Untitled, 2021
Oil and acrylic on cardboard
13 x 10-7/8 inches (33 x 27.6 cm)
Signed with the artist’s initials and dated “EM·21” lower left

2025 Auction Results

22 lots sold at auction in 2025 for a turnover of USD 1,150,078. With 9 lots failing to sell, the sell-through rate is 71%. The highest price for 2025 has been achieved by For Richard D. Marshall, Rest in Paintings, a gigantic mixed-media work on canvas dated 2014, sold at Christie’s Hong-Kong, on 26 September 2025, for HKD 2,286,000 (USD 293,830).

2025 Top 3 Lots

2 lots sold for more than USD 100,000, generating a cumulative turnover of USD 571,335, representing 49.7% of the total turnover of 2025.

#1. For Richard D. Marshall, Rest in Paintings, 2014

Christie’s Hong-Kong: 26 September 2025
Estimated: HKD 1,800,000 – 2,800,000
HKD 2,286,000 / USD 293,830

EDDIE MARTINEZ (B. 1977), For Richard D. Marshall, Rest in Paintings | Christie’s

EDDIE MARTINEZ (B. 1977)
For Richard D. Marshall, Rest in Paintings, 2014
Oil, enamel, spray paint, thumb tacks, and paper collage on canvas
108×144 inches (274 x 365.8 cm)
Signed and dated ‘MARTINEZ · 14’ (lower left)

#2. Interior Labyrinth, 2021

Christie’s Hong-Kong: 26 September 2025
Estimated: HKD 800,000 – 1,200,000
HKD 2,159,000 / USD 277,505

EDDIE MARTINEZ (B. 1977), Interior Labyrinth | Christie’s

EDDIE MARTINEZ (B. 1977)
Interior Labyrinth, 2021
Oil, acrylic, spray paint and collaged baby wipe on canvas
72×108 inches (182.9 x 274.3 cm)
Signed and dated ‘EM.21’ (upper left)

USD 100,000

#3. Yours for the Taking, 2007

Christie’s Hong-Kong: 29 March 2025
Estimated: HKD 300,000 – 500,000
HKD 630,000 / USD 80,950

EDDIE MARTINEZ (B. 1977), Yours for the Taking | Christie’s

REPEAT SALE

Phillips New-York: 28 September 2021
Estimated: USD 100,000 – 200,000
USD 201,600

Eddie Martinez – New Now New York Lot 21 September 2021 | Phillips

EDDIE MARTINEZ (B. 1977)
Yours for the Taking, 2007
Acrylic, oil and spray paint on canvas
60 x 48 1/4 inches (152.4 x 122.6 cm)
Signed at dated ‘EM 07’ (lower left)
Signed, titled and dated ‘E MARTINEZ 2007 ”Yours For The Taking”‘ (on the reverse)
Signed ‘E MARTINEZ, 2007’ (on the stretcher)

#4. Bombay Bambino, 2015

Phillips Hong-Kong: 27 May 2025
Estimated: HKD 600,000 – 900,000
HKD 609,600 / USD 77,785

Eddie Martinez Modern & Contemporary Art: Evening & Day Sale

#5. Vulnerability of Solidification, 2014

#6. Future Modern, 2012

Phillips New-York: 28 February 2025
Estimated: USD 60,000 – 90,000
USD 60,960

Eddie Martinez – New Now: Modern & Contemporary Art, New York Friday, February 28, 2025 at EST | Phillips

#7. BAP Flower 16 (Sunsetter), 2021

Christie’s Hong-Kong: 28 November 2025
Estimated: HKD 300,000 – 500,000
HKD 381,000 / USD 48,950

EDDIE MARTINEZ (B. 1977), BAP Flower 16 (Sunsetter) | Christie’s

EDDIE MARTINEZ (B. 1977)
BAP Flower 16 (Sunsetter), 2021
Acrylic, oil and spray paint on canvas
71 3/4 x 60 inches (182.2 x 152.4 cm)
signed and dated ‘EM.21’ (upper right)

#8. Untitled, 2020

Christie’s London: 26 June 2025
Estimated: GBP 20,000 – 30,000
GBP 25,200 / USD 34,500

EDDIE MARTINEZ (B. 1977), Untitled | Christie’s

EDDIE MARTINEZ (B. 1977)
Untitled, 2020
Oil and spray paint on panel
30 x 39 7/8 inches (76.1 x 101.4 cm)
Signed with the artist’s initials and dated ‘EM.20’ (lower right)

#9. Shrimpy, 2015

Phillips online: 16 December 2025
Estimated: USD 15,000 – 20,000
USD 25,800

Eddie Martinez Modern & Contemporary Art: Online Auction, New York

EDDIE MARTINEZ
Shrimpy, 2015
Silkscreen ink, oil, enamel and spray paint on canvas
72×60 inches (182.9 x 152.4 cm)
Signed with the artist’s initials and dated “EM. 15” lower right

#10. Purple Mush Room, 2021

Christie’s Hong-Kong: 28 November 2025
Estimated: HKD 80,000 – 150,000
HKD 190,500 / USD 24,475

EDDIE MARTINEZ (B. 1977), Purple Mush Room | Christie’s

EDDIE MARTINEZ (B. 1977)
Purple Mush Room, 2021
Oil paint and acrylic paint on canvas in artist’s frame
Framed: 30 7/8 x 41 inches (78.4 x 104 cm)
Initialed and dated ‘EM·21’ (upper right)

#11. Lounge lizard, 2005

Phillips London: 13 March 2025
Estimated: GBP 18,000 – 25,000
GBP 19,050 / USD 24,695

Eddie Martinez – Modern & Contemporary… Lot 12 March 2025 | Phillips

#12. BH Stacked #51, 2020

Poly Hong-Kong: 7 October 2025
Estimated: HKD 120,000 – 220,000
HKD 180,000 / USD 23,130

BH Stacked #51｜Poly Auction Hong Kong

EDDIE MARTINEZ
BH Stacked #51, 2020
Oil and spray paint on linen
40×30 inches (101.5 x 76 cm)
Signed with initial and dated ‘EM.20’ (lower right)

#13. Untitled, 2017

Hindman Auctions: 13 May 2025
Estimated: USD 15,000 – 25,000
USD 16,640

Untitled, 2017 Lot 62

EDDIE MARTINEZ (American, B. 1977)
Untitled, 2017
Oil, acrylic, enamel on cardboard mounted on wood
15 1/8 x 12 1/4 inches
Initialed EM and dated (verso)

#14. Untitled, 2016

Phillips Hong-Kong: 27 May 2025
Estimated: HKD 100,000 – 150,000
HKD 127,000 / USD 16,320
WORK ON PAPER

Eddie Martinez New Now: Modern & Contemporary Art and Design

#15. Untitled, 2016

#17. Peanuts WOP 2, 2019

#18. Untitled, 2018

#19. Untitled (Organic Tug), 2005

#20. Untitled, 2010

#21. Untitled, 2006

#22. Alien, 2009

Phillips London: 13 March 2025
Estimated: GBP 3,000 – 5,000
GBP 3,556 / USD 4,610

Eddie Martinez – Modern & Contemporary… Lot 69 March 2025 | Phillips

Lots Passed

Flowers for Taiwan No.17 (Blue Heaven), 2019

Phillips Hong-Kong: 28 September 2025
Estimated: HKD 200,000 – 300,000
PASSED

Eddie Martinez Modern & Contemporary Art Day Sale

Mandala #14, 2017

Phillips Hong-Kong: 29 March 2025
Estimated: HKD 450,000 – 650,000
PASSED

Eddie Martinez New Now: Modern & Contemporary Art and Design

Untitled, 2018

Small Figure #2, 2016

Untitled, 2011

Sotheby’s London: 24 January 2025
Estimated: GBP 20,000 – 30,000
PASSED

Untitled | Contemporary Discoveries | 2025 | Sotheby’s

EDDIE MARTINEZ (b. 1977)
Untitled, 2011
Spray paint, acrylic and collage on canvas
48×40 inches (121.9 x 101.6 cm)
Signed and dated 11 NYC (lower edge); signed (on the reverse)

2024 Auction Results

18 lots sold at auction in 2024 for a total turnover of USD 1,078,637. With 3 lots failing to sell, the sell-through rate is 86%. The highest price for 2024 was achieved at Ravenel in Taipei, on 2 June 2024, when Untitled (Flower Pot), a painting dated 2020 sold for TWD 12,000,000 (USD 370,370).

2024 Top 3 Lots

3 lots sold for more than USD 100,000, generating a cumulative turnover of USD 629,835, representing 58.4% of the total for 2024.

#1. Untitled (Flower Pot), 2020

Ravenel Taiwan: 2 June 2024
Estimated: TWD 9,500,000 – 14,000,000
TWD 12,000,000 / USD 370,370

Ravenel | EDDIE MARTINEZ《Untitled (Flower Pot)》 Ravenel Spring Auction 2024 Taipei Lot 040

EDDIE MARTINEZ (American, 1977)
Untitled (Flower Pot), 2020
Oil, acrylic and spray paint on linen
75×66 inches (190.5 x 167.6 cm)
Initialed upper left EM and dated 20

#2. Open Ocean Mind, 2020

Phillips London: 19 April 2024
Estimated: GBP 150,000 – 200,000
GBP 127,000 / USD 157,480

Eddie Martinez – New Now: Modern & Con… Lot 17 April 2024 | Phillips

#3. The Deal (Yves Klein Blue), 2020

Phillips Hong-Kong: 26 November 2024
Estimated: HKD 700,000 – 1,200,000
HKD 793,750 / USD 101,985

Eddie Martinez – Modern & Contempo… Lot 177 November 2024 | Phillips

#4. BH Stack, 2019

K Auction Seoul: 26 June 2024
Estimated: KRW 100,000,000 – 350,000,000
KRW 115,000,000 / USD 82,570

EDDIE MARTINEZ
BH Stack, 2019
Oil, spray paint, collage and push pins on canvas
72×60 inches (182.7 x 152.2 cm)
Signed and dated on the upper left

#5. Inside Thought, 2013

Phillips New-York: 15 May 2024
Estimated: USD 60,000 – 80,000
USD 76,200

Eddie Martinez – Modern & Contemporary … Lot 398 May 2024 | Phillips

#6. Serious Time #2, 2011

Phillips London: 8 March 2024
Estimated: GBP 50,000 – 70,000
GBP 53,340 / USD 66,142

Eddie Martinez – 20th Century & Conte… Lot 119 March 2024 | Phillips

#7. Stump Study #1 (Year Yellow), 2017

Phillips New-York: 12 March 2024
Estimated: USD 40,000 – 60,000
USD 44,450

Eddie Martinez – New Now New York Lot 75 March 2024 | Phillips

#8. Untitled, 2019

Phillips London: 4 December 2024
Estimated: GBP 25,000 – 35,000
GBP 22,860 / USD 28,975

Eddie Martinez – New Now: Modern & … Lot 11 December 2024 | Phillips

#9. TBT, 2022

Sotheby’s New-York: 16 July 2024
Estimated: USD 20,000 – 30,000
USD 28,800

TBT | Contemporary Discoveries | 2024 | Sotheby’s

EDDIE MARTINEZ (b. 1977)
TBT, 2022
Acrylic, oil and enamel on paper
30 x 21 7/8 inches (76.2 x 55.6 cm)
Signed with the artist’s initials and dated 22 (upper right)

#10. I Could Really Go For a Jello Pudding Pop About Now, 2005

Christie’s online: 12 March 2024
Estimated: GBP 10,000 – 15,000
GBP 18,900 / USD 24,230

EDDIE MARTINEZ (B. 1977), I Could Really Go For a Jello Pudding Pop About Now | Christie’s (christies.com)

EDDIE MARTINEZ (B. 1977)
I Could Really Go For a Jello Pudding Pop About Now, 2005
Acrylic on panel
16×12 inches (40.3 x 30.5 cm)
Signed and dated ‘MARTINEZ 05’ (lower right)
Titled ‘I Could Really Go For a Jello Pudding Pop About Now‘ (on the reverse)

#11. Space will tear us apart, 2010

Bonhams Paris: 30 January 2024
Estimated: EUR 6,000 – 8,000
EUR 21,760 / USD 23,575

Bonhams Cornette de Saint Cyr : EDDIE MARTINEZ (N. 1977) Space will tear us apart 2010

#12. Mini Figure #8, 2017

Christie’s New-York: 17 July 2024
Estimated: USD 15,000 – 20,000
USD 15,120

EDDIE MARTINEZ (b. 1977), Mini Figure #8 | Christie’s

EDDIE MARTINEZ (b. 1977)
Mini Figure #8, 2017
Acrylic and oil on cardboard, mounted on wood panel
15×12 inches (38.1 x 30.5 cm)
Signed with the artist’s initials and dated ‘EM 17’ (lower right)

#13. EMHK WOP3, 2019

Christie’s online: 20 March 2024
Estimated: HKD 150,000 – 300,000
HKD 113,400 / USD 14,495
WORK ON PAPER

EDDIE MARTINEZ (B. 1977), EMHK WOP3 | Christie’s

EDDIE MARTINEZ (B. 1977)
EMHK WOP3, 2019
Acrylic, watercolor, and spray paint on paper
22 1/4 x 30 inches (56.5 x 76.2 cm)
Signed and dated ‘EM·19’ (lower left)
Inscribed ‘1175 31002’ (lower right)

#14. Untitled, 2021

Seoul Auction: 19 November 2024
Estimated: KRW 15,000,000 – 25,000,000
KRW 19,470,000 / USD 14,000

EDDIE MARTINEZ (B. 1977)
Untitled, 2021
Oil, acrylic, enamel and sharpie on cardboard in artist’s frame
9 7/8 x 8 3/8 inches (25.1 x 21 cm)
Signed and dated on the lower left

#15. Untitled, 2012

Bonhams Los Angeles: 1 March 2024
Estimated: USD 8,000 – 12,000
USD 10,880
WORK ON PAPER

Bonhams : EDDIE MARTINEZ (B. 1977) Untitled, 2012

#16. Hanover Happening, 2009

Phillips New-York: 3 October 2024
Estimated: USD 8,000 – 12,000
USD 9,525

Eddie Martinez – Modern & Contemporary Art: Online Auction, New York, New York Monday, September 23, 2024 at EDT | Phillips

#17. Untitled (American Native Study), 2012

Sotheby’s New-York: 16 July 2024
Estimated: USD 7,000 – 10,000
USD 5,040
WORK ON PAPER

Untitled (American Native Study) | Contemporary Discoveries | 2024 | Sotheby’s

EDDIE MARTINEZ (b. 1977)
Untitled (American Native Study), 2012
Marker, oil and linseed oil on paper
9×12 inches (22.9 x 30.5 cm)

#18. Untitled (American Native Study), 2012

Sotheby’s New-York: 2 October 2024
Estimated: USD 5,000 – 7,000
USD 4,800
WORK ON PAPER

Untitled (American Native Study) | Contemporary Discoveries | 2024 | Sotheby’s

EDDIE MARTINEZ (b. 1977)
Untitled (American Native Study), 2012
Marker, oil and linseed oil on paper
9×12 inches (22.9 x 30.5 cm)

2023 Auction Results

10 lots sold at auction in 2023 for a total turnover of USD 1,119,310. With 5 lots failing to sell, the sell-through rate is 67%. The highest price was achieved at Christie’s in Shanghai on 23 September 2023, when Untitled (Flower pot with blue background), a painting dated 2020, sold for CNY 2,520,000 (USD 345,300). 4 lots sold for more than USD 100,000, generating a cumulative turnover of USD 924,392, representing 82.6% of the total turnover for 2023.

2023 Top 3 Lots

#1. Untitled (Flower pot with blue background), 2020

Christie’s Shanghai: 19 May 2023
Estimated: CNY 2,000,000 – 3,000,000
CNY 2,520,000 / USD 345,300

EDDIE MARTINEZ (B. 1977). (christies.com)

EDDIE MARTINEZ (B. 1977).
Untitled (Flower pot with blue background), 2020
Oil, acrylic and spray paint on linen.
72×60 inches (182.9 x 152.4 cm)
Signed with initials and dated ‘EM.20’

#2. Mandala #12, 2018

Bonhams New-York: 16 November 2023
Estimated: USD 180,000 – 250,000
USD 216,400

Bonhams : EDDIE MARTINEZ (B. 1977) Mandala 12 2018

#4. Whole World War, 2011

Sotheby’s New-York: 19 May 2023
Estimated: USD 150,000 – 200,000
USD 152,400

Whole World War | Contemporary Day Auction | 2023 | Sotheby’s (sothebys.com)

EDDIE MARTINEZ (b. 1977)
Whole World War, 2011
Oil on canvas
60×84 inches (152.4 x 213.4 cm)
Signed and dated 11 (lower left)
Signed, dated 11 and inscribed Last night in Jamaica (on the reverse)

USD 100,000

#5. Untitled, 2015

Ravenel Taiwan: 4 June 2023
Estimated: TWD 3,000,000 – 4,000,000
TWD 2,640,000 / USD 86,106

Ravenel | EDDIE MARTINEZ《Untitled》 Ravenel Spring Auction 2023 Taipei Lot 253

EDDIE MARTINEZ
Untitled, 2015
Oil, Enamel, Acrylic, Sprayprint on Linen
40×30 inches (101.5 x 76.6 cm)
Signed on the reverse Martinez, titled Untitled, inscribe Oil,
Enamel, Acrylic, Sprayprint on Linen and dated 2015

#6. Snakes Take, 2019

Christie’s Hong-Kong: 24 September 2023
Estimated: HKD 200,000 – 400,000
HKD 226,800 / USD 29,000

EDDIE MARTINEZ (B. 1977), Snakes Take | Christie’s (christies.com)

EDDIE MARTINEZ (B. 1977)
Snakes Take, 2019
Oil on canvas
24×20 inches (61 x 50.8 cm)
Signed and dated ‘EM.19’ (on the reverse)

#7. Vejby Whites, 2009

Phillips London: 6 December 2023
Estimated: GBP 10,000 – 15,000
GBP 19,050 / USD 23,992

Eddie Martinez – New Now London Lot 51 December 2023 | Phillips

#8. Untitled, 2011

Phillips online: 28 March 2023
Estimated: USD 20,000 – 30,000
USD 20,320

Eddie Martinez – 20th Century & Contemp… Lot 7 March 2023 | Phillips

#9. Untitled, 2008

Phillips online: 26 July 2023
Estimated: USD 15,000 – 20,000
USD 19,050

Eddie Martinez – 20th Century & Contemp… Lot 10 July 2023 | Phillips

#10. Untitled, 2009

Phillips online: 28 March 2023
Estimated: USD 15,000 – 20,000
USD 16,510

Eddie Martinez – 20th Century & Contemp… Lot 8 March 2023 | Phillips

2022 Auction Results

16 lots sold at auction in 2022 for a total turnover of USD 3,693,532. With 1 lot failing to sell, the sell-through rate is 94%. The highest price has been achieved at Christie’s in Hong-Kong, on 26 May 2022 when Untitled (Flower Pot with Yellow Background), a painting dated 2020 sold for HKD 5,040,000 (USD 642,046). 13 lots sold for more than USD 1 million, generating a cumulative turnover of USD 3,492,645, representing 94.6% of the total turnover for 2022.

2022 Top 3 Lots

#1. Untitled (Flower Pot with Yellow Background), 2020

Christie’s Hong-Kong: 26 May 2022
Estimated: HKD 3,800,000 – 5,500,000
HKD 5,040,000 / USD 642,046

EDDIE MARTINEZ (B. 1977) (christies.com)

EDDIE MARTINEZ (B. 1977)
Untitled (Flower Pot with Yellow Background), 2020
Oil, acrylic and spray paint on linen
72×60 inches (182.9 x 152.4 cm)
Signed and dated ‘EM. 20’ (upper left)

#2. Untitled, 2015

Seoul Auction: 22 March 2022
Estimated: KRW 350,000,000 – 500,000,000
KRW 531,000,000 / USD 437,089

EDDIE MARTINEZ (B. 1977)
Untitled, 2015
Oil, paint, acrylic, oil and collage on canvas
72×108 inches (183×275 cm)
Signed and dated ‘EM. 15’ (upper left)

#3. I Feel Alright, 2007

Phillips New-York: 9 March 2022
Estimated: USD 150,000 – 200,000
USD 352,800

Eddie Martinez – New Now New York Lot 31 March 2022 | Phillips

#4. Setting Suitable For A Blockhead, 2007

Phillips London: 28 April 2022
Estimated: GBP 100,000 – 150,000
GBP 239,400 / USD 297,760

Eddie Martinez – New Now London Lot 7 April 2022 | Phillips

#5. Beach Death, 2018

Sotheby’s Hong-Kong: 7 October 2022
Estimated: HKD 1,800,000 – 2,500,000
HKD 2,142,000 / USD 272,848

Eddie Martinez 艾迪・瑪汀尼茲 | Beach Death 海灘之亡 | Contemporary Evening Auction | 2022 | Sotheby’s (sothebys.com)

EDDIE MARTINEZ (B. 1977)
Beach Death, 2018
Silkscreen ink, oil paint, spray paint and thumbtack on canvas
75×96 inches (190.5 x 243.8 cm)
Signed and dated 18

EDDIE MARTINEZ (B. 1977)
Bufly No. 8 (Mello Yello), 2022
Oil, acrylic and spray paint on canvas
72×60 inches (182.9 x 152.4 cm)
Signed with the artist’s initials and dated ‘EM22’ (upper left)

#8. Festival Plant, 2006

Phillips London: 13 October 2022
Estimated: GBP 120,000 – 180,000
GBP 176,400 / USD 200,090

Eddie Martinez – 20th Century & Con… Lot 116 October 2022 | Phillips

#9. Albatross #2, 2013

Phillips London: 29 June 2022
Estimated: GBP 150,000 – 200,000
GBP 163,800 / USD 198,955

Eddie Martinez – 20th Century & Contem… Lot 119 June 2022 | Phillips

#10. Escuchar (To Listen), 2011

Phillips Hong-Kong: 21 June 2022
Estimated: HKD 1,500,000 – 2,500,000
HKD 1,500,000 / USD 191,085

Eddie Martinez – 20th Century & Contem… Lot 113 June 2022 | Phillips

#11. Blockhead Blues, 2006

Christie’s Hong-Kong: 27 May 2022
Estimated: HKD 1,000,000 – 1,500,000
HKD 1,260,000 / USD 160,520

EDDIE MARTINEZ (B. 1977), Blockhead Blues | Christie’s

EDDIE MARTINEZ (B. 1977)
Blockhead Blues, 2006
Acrylic, spray paint, chewing gum on panel
60×84 inches (152.5 x 213.5 cm)
Signed and dated ‘E.MARTINEZ 2006’ (lower right)

#12. Untitled, 2018

Sotheby’s Hong-Kong: 8 July 2022
Estimated: HKD 900,000 – 1,200,000
HKD 900,900 / USD 114,790

Untitled 無題 | Contemporary Curated: Hong Kong | 2022 | Sotheby’s

EDDIE MARTINEZ (b. 1977)
Untitled, 2018
Oil, silkscreen, ink and spray paint on canvas, in artist’s original frame
72 1/8 x 60 1/8 inches (183 x 152.5 cm)
Signed and dated 18 on the reverse

#13. Gumball with Skull, 2010

Phillips London: 13 October 2022
Estimated: GBP 80,000 – 100,000
GBP 100,800 / USD 114,335

Eddie Martinez – 20th Century & Con… Lot 122 October 2022 | Phillips

#14. Untitled, 2011

Phillips online: 13 July 2022
Estimated: GBP 40,000 – 60,000
GBP 69,300 / USD 82,590

Eddie Martinez – Heatwave: Online Auction Lot 3 July 2022 | Phillips

#15. Untitled, 2011

SBI Art Auction: 22 October 2022
Estimated: JPY 10,000,000 – 15,000,000
JPY 11,500,000 / USD 77,980

RESULTS｜SBI Art Auction

EDDIE MARTINEZ
Untitled, 2011
Oil, acrylic, collage, spray paint on canvas
60×48 inches (152.5 × 121.9 cm)
Signed with initials “E.M” on the upper right
Signed, titled, dated, and inscribed medium and “BROOKLYN, NY.” on the reverse

#16. Heroic Dose, 2015

Phillips New-York: 28 September 2022
Estimated: USD 40,000 – 60,000
USD 40,320

Eddie Martinez – New Now New York Lot 30 September 2022 | Phillips

2021 Auction Results

30 lots sold at auction in 2021 for a total turnover of USD 8,844,552. With 3 lots failing to sell, the sell-through rate is 91%. The highest price has been achieved at Christie’s in Hong-Kong on 24 May 2021, when a painting dated 2009, They Build You Up to Knock You Down, sold for HKD 6,000,000 (USD 772,690).

12 lots sold for more than USD 200,000, generating a cumulative turnover of USD 5,857,907, representing 66.2% of the total turnover for 2021.

2021 Top 3 Lots

#1. They Build You Up to Knock You Down, 2009

Christie’s Hong-Kong: 24 May 2021
Estimated: HKD 2,000,000 – 3,000,000
HKD 6,000,000 / USD 772,688

EDDIE MARTINEZ (B. 1977) (christies.com)

EDDIE MARTINEZ (B. 1977)
They Build You Up to Knock You Down, 2009
Acrylic, oil, spray, collage, silicone on canvas
72 x 108 1/4 inches (183×275 cm)
Signed ‘EM.09’ (lower right)
Signed, titled, inscribed and dated (on the reverse)
Signed ‘E.MARTINEZ. 2009’ (on the stretcher)

#2. Christmas in July, 2016

Phillips Hong-Kong: 8 June 2021
Estimated: HKD 3,500,000 – 4,500,000
HKD 5,922,000 / USD 763,155

Eddie Martinez – 20th Century & Contemp… Lot 27 June 2021 | Phillips

#3. Untitled, 2015

Christie’s Hong-Kong: 24 May 2021
Estimated: HKD 4,200,000 – 6,200,000
HKD 5,625,000 / USD 724,619

EDDIE MARTINEZ (B. 1977) (christies.com)

EDDIE MARTINEZ (B. 1977)
Untitled, 2015
Oil, acrylic, spray paint and enamel on canvas
72 x 108 1/4 inches (183×275 cm)
Signed with the artist’s initials and dated ‘E.M. 15’ (lower center)

#4. Untitled, 2007

Phillips London: 9 December 2021
Estimated: GBP 200,000 – 300,000
GBP 466,200 / USD 614,875

Eddie Martinez – New Now London Lot 16 December 2021 | Phillips

#5. Untitled, 2019

Sotheby’s Hong-Kong: 20 April 2021
Estimated: HKD 1,500,000 – 2,500,000
HKD 3,780,000 / USD 486,725

Eddie Martinez 艾迪・瑪汀尼茲 | Untitled 無題 | Contemporary Art Evening Sale | 2021 | Sotheby’s

EDDIE MARTINEZ (b. 1977)
Untitled, 2019
Oil, collage, silkscreen ink and push pin on canvas
72×84 inches (183 x 213.5 cm)
Signed on the reverse

#6. Major Leagues, 2009

Sotheby’s Hong-Kong: 18 June 2021
Estimated: HKD 1,200,000 – 2,200,000
HKD 3,654,000 / USD 470,705

Eddie Martinez 艾迪・瑪汀尼茲 | Major Leagues 主要聯盟 | Contemporary Curated: Asia | JAY CHOU x SOTHEBY’S | Evening Sale | 2021 | Sotheby’s

EDDIE MARTINEZ (b. 1977)
Major Leagues, 2009
Acrylic, oil and spray paint on canvas
60×72 inches (152.4 x 182.8 cm)
Initialed and dated 2009
Signed, titled and dated on the reverse

#7. Supersonic Plant, 2006

Christie’s Hong-Kong: 1 December 2021
Estimated: HKD 600,000 – 800,000
HKD 3,250,000 / USD 417,019

EDDIE MARTINEZ (B. 1977) (christies.com)

EDDIE MARTINEZ (B. 1977)
Supersonic Plant, 2006
Acrylic and flashe on panel
48×36 inches (121.9 x 91.5 cm)
Signed and dated ‘E.MARTINEZ 2006’ (lower right)

USD 400,000

#8. Gladiator, 2015

Sotheby’s Hong-Kong: 9 October 2021
Estimated: HKD 1,000,000 – 2,000,000
HKD 2,772,000 / USD 356,085

Eddie Martinez 艾迪・瑪汀尼茲 | Gladiator 角斗士 | Contemporary Art Evening Sale | 2021 | Sotheby’s

EDDIE MARTINEZ (b. 1977)
Gladiator, 2015
Oil, enamel, spray paint, silkscreen ink and paper collage on canvas
72×108 inches (182.9 x 274.3 cm)
Signed, initialed, titled and dated 15 and 2015 on the reverse

#9. Virtuoso Plant, 2008

Christie’s New-York: 14 May 2021
Estimated: USD 60,000 – 80,000 
USD 325,000

EDDIE MARTINEZ (B. 1977) (christies.com)

EDDIE MARTINEZ (B. 1977)
Virtuoso Plant, 2008
Acrylic, oil and spray paint on panel
40 x 29 7/8 inches (101.6 x 75.9 cm)
Signed with the artist’s initials ‘E.M.’ (lower left)
Signed, titled and dated ‘E. Martinez “Virtuoso Plant” 2008’ (on the reverse)

#10. Out of Reach Plant, 2007

Ravenel Taipei: 17 July 2021
Estimated: TWD 7,000,000 – 10,000,000
TWD 9,000,000 / USD 321,225

Ravenel | EDDIE MARTINEZ《Out of Reach Plant》 Ravenel Spring Auction 2021 Taipei Lot 067

EDDIE MARTINEZ (American, 1977)
Out of Reach Plant, 2007
Oil and spray paint on canvas
60×48 inches (152.4 x 121.9 cm)
Signed lower right EDDIE MARTINEZ and dated 07
Signed reverse EDDIE MARTINEZ, titled OUT OF REACH PLANT and dated 2007

#11. Big Pink, 2009

Christie’s online: 22 March 2021
Estimated: HKD 1,000,000 – 1,500,000
HKD 2,375,000 / USD 305,812

EDDIE MARTINEZ (B. 1977), Big Pink | Christie’s (christies.com)

EDDIE MARTINEZ (B. 1977)
Big Pink, 2009
Oil, acrylic and spray paint on wood
48×36 inches (122 x 91.5 cm)
Signed ‘E.M’ (lower right)
Dated, titled and inscribed ‘BIG PINK E.M. 09’ (on the reverse)

#12. Fruit Punch, 2006

Christie’s online: 16 December 2021
Estimated: USD 150,000 – 200,000
USD 300,000 

EDDIE MARTINEZ (B. 1977), Fruit Punch | Christie’s (christies.com)

EDDIE MARTINEZ (B. 1977)
Fruit Punch, 2006
Acrylic, water-based oil, flashe, spray paint, and ink on panel
72×96 inches (182.9 x 243.8 cm)
Signed with the artist’s initials and dated ‘EM 2006’ (lower right)

USD 300,000

#13. New York Electric, 2010

Ravenel Taipei: 17 July 2021
Estimated: TWD 7,000,000 – 10,000,000
TWD 8,400,000 / USD 299,810

Ravenel | EDDIE MARTINEZ《New York Electric》 Ravenel Spring Auction 2021 Taipei Lot 066

EDDIE MARTINEZ (American, 1977)
New York Electric, 2010
Oil, acrylic and spray paint on canvas
48×60 inches (121.9 x 152.4 cm)
Signed lower left MARTINEZ and titled NEW YORK ELECTRIC
Signed reverse E. MARTINEZ, titled NEW YORK ELECTRIC, inscribed OIL, ACRYLIC, SPRAY PAINT and dated 2010

#14. My Baby’s Got Great Gams, 2007

Sotheby’s Hong-Kong: 20 April 2021
Estimated: HKD 1,500,000 – 2,500,000
HKD 2,268,000 / USD 292,225

Eddie Martinez 艾迪‧瑪汀尼茲 | My Baby’s Got Great Gams 我的孩子們玩得很開心 | Contemporary Art Day Sale | 2021 | Sotheby’s

EDDIE MARTINEZ (B. 1977)
My Baby’s Got Great Gams, 2007
Mixed media on canvas
72×84 inches (182.9 x 213.4 cm)
Initialed and dated 2007
Titled on the reverse

#15. Mandala #7 (Frankenthaler Wash), 2016

Phillips London: 16 April 2021
Estimated: GBP 200,000 – 300,000
GBP 201,600 / USD 278,720

Eddie Martinez – 20th Century & Conte… Lot 212 April 2021 | Phillips

#16. Nomader, 2014

Phillips New-York: 18 November 2021
Estimated: USD 120,000 – 180,000
USD 252,000

Eddie Martinez – 20th Century & Co… Lot 344 November 2021 | Phillips

#17. Whole World War, 2011

Christie’s New-York: 12 November 2021
Estimated: USD 180,000 – 250,000
USD 250,000

EDDIE MARTINEZ (B. 1977), Whole World War | Christie’s

EDDIE MARTINEZ (B. 1977)
Whole World War, 2011
Oil on canvas
60 1/8 x 72 inches (152.7 x 182.9 cm)
Signed and dated ‘MARTINEZ.11’ (lower left)
Signed again ‘E. Martinez’ (on the reverse)

#18. Night Flight II, 2019

Christie’s Hong-Kong: 2 December 2021
Estimated: HKD 700,000 – 900,000
HKD 1,625,000 / USD 208,510

EDDIE MARTINEZ (B. 1977), Night Flight II | Christie’s

EDDIE MARTINEZ (B. 1977)
Night Flight II, 2019
Oil, silkscreen ink on canvas
72×108 inches (182.9 x 274.3 cm)
Signed and dated ‘EM·19’ (lower left)

#19. Yours for the Taking, 2007

Phillips New-York: 28 September 2021
Estimated: USD 100,000 – 200,000
USD 201,600

Eddie Martinez – New Now New York Lot 21 September 2021 | Phillips

#20. Hat Closet, 2015-2016

Sotheby’s New-York: 12 March 2021
Estimated: USD 200,000 – 250,000
USD 201,600

Hat Closet | Contemporary Curated | 2021 | Sotheby’s

EDDIE MARTINEZ (b. 1977)
Hat Closet, 2015-2016
Silkscreen ink, acrylic, oil and spray paint on canvas
72×108 inches (182.9 x 274.3 cm)
Signed twice and dated 15-16 on the reverse

#21. Untitled, 2009

Christie’s New-York: 1 October 2021
Estimated: USD 150,000 – 250,000
USD 200,000

EDDIE MARTINEZ (B. 1977), Untitled | Christie’s

EDDIE MARTINEZ (B. 1977)
Untitled, 2009
Oil, acrylic and spray paint on panel
40×30 inches (101.6 x 76.2 cm)
Signed and dated ‘E. MARTINEZ. 2009.’ (on the reverse)

USD 200,000

#22. Untitled, 2009

Phillips Hong-Kong: 29 November 2021
Estimated: HKD 1,200,000 – 2,200,000
HKD 1,512,000 / USD 193,865

Eddie Martinez – 20th Century & Co… Lot 125 November 2021 | Phillips

#23. Spastic Plant, 2008

Christie’s London: 2 July 2021
Estimated: GBP 60,000 – 80,000
GBP 112,500 / USD 155,195

EDDIE MARTINEZ (B. 1977), Spastic Plant | Christie’s

EDDIE MARTINEZ (B. 1977)
Spastic Plant, 2008
Acrylic and spray enamel on canvas
30×24 inches (76×61 cm)
Signed with the artist’s initials ‘E·M EM’ (lower left and upper right)
Sated ’08·’ (lower right)

#24. Untitled, 2011

Phillips Hong-Kong: 29 November 2021
Estimated: HKD 600,000 – 800,000
HKD 1,197,000 / USD 153,480

Eddie Martinez – 20th Century & Co… Lot 128 November 2021 | Phillips

#25. BH Stacks #11 (Blockhead Goes to Japan), 2018

Phillips Hong-Kong: 7 June 2021
Estimated: HKD 400,000 – 600,000
HKD 693,000 / USD 89,315

Eddie Martinez – 20th Century & Contem… Lot 106 June 2021 | Phillips

PART III: FOCUS

Record Breakers

Christmas in July, 2016

Phillips Hong-Kong: 8 June 2021
Estimated: HKD 3,500,000 – 4,500,000
HKD 5,922,000 / USD 763,155

Eddie Martinez – 20th Century & Contemp… Lot 27 June 2021 | Phillips

“I’m kind of dancing around this thing, doing it as quick as possible, and just letting the marks fall where they fall.” 

First unveiled in Copenhagen at Andersen’s Contemporary’s solo exhibition for the artist, Eddie Martinez at Andersen’s Contemporary, which ran from 7 October – 19 November 2016, Christmas in July is imposing scale, marvelously encapsulating Martinez’s unique gestural approach. Rendered in a curious combination of silkscreen ink, oil and acrylic paint, spray paint, enamel, and paper towel on canvas, defined lines and vibrant pockets of color dance across the canvas surface in a manner that conveys both the erratic feel of a spontaneous doodle, whilst at the same time captures the immediacy of the artist’s hand as both considered and controlled.

The present work installed at Copenhagen, Andersen’s Contemporary, Eddie Martinez at Andersen’s Contemporary, 7 October – 19 November 2016 

While commentators have drawn comparisons between his oeuvre and the work of Abstract Expressionists, including Willem de Kooning and Philip Guston, as well as the likes of Jean-Michel Basquiat and even Picasso —Martinez’s works are distinctly his own, as he draws influence from a variety of sources that range from graffiti, street art and pop culture, to music, sports and prehistoric cave paintings. As such, the freedom to view and experience the artist’s work at our own volition makes his visceral paintings utterly captivating, as his visual language of bold, muscular brushstrokes has universal appeal and is not rooted in any specific context — instead, it is up to the viewer to devour and distinguish a narrative if they so please.

“The thing with viewers, I never have a thing I’m trying to put upon anyone. I think that’s the job of the viewer, to figure out what they want to get out of it. Once it leaves, once I’ve made the thing, it’s not really mine anymore…I mean like in the sense that I like to relinquish control over it. I made it, it’s done, now it’s for people to look at and see what they want to see. Whenever anyone asks me if it’s this or that, I just don’t say anything, because I don’t want to inform it any more than I already in the studio.” 

New interpretations arise with each new, personal engagement, and as expressed by Barry McGee in his interview with Martinez in 2014, ‘viewers might not know where to look, but they won’t be able to look away’. This is distinctly true of Christmas in July, which engages the viewer in a visual rally, hitting us with stroke after brushstroke as our gaze is led from the cerulean blue eye in the upper left corner to the beige mushroom-form center-right, in a manner not dissimilar to the serves and smashes witnessed in a tennis match, a game for which he has professed deep enthusiasm. Bursts of color are framed by the negative space which provides structure to the canvas, guiding our eyes across the image, and sucking us into powerful pools of rusting reds, vibrant yellows, and electrifying elements of cyan and baby blues that Martinez litters throughout.

Like an optical illusion of sorts, the overlapping layers of line and color produce an array of possible shapes, enchanting the viewer as we try to pick out details from amongst the chaos, such as the porous object to the right of the center from which apricot tones, raspberry reds and a mix of muted hues slowly ooze out, suggestive of anything from the image of a strawberry to a deflated beach ball. These globular forms and boisterous linear strokes toy with figuration, abstract up close but hinting at a comprehensible image when viewed holistically from afar.

Willem de Kooning, Abstraction, 1949-50
Collection of Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza, Madrid

Working in a similar manner, Martinez’s composition draws a comparison to the renowned Abstract Expressionist, Willem de Kooning, whom too, famously walked the line between abstraction and figuration in his oeuvre. Like Martinez, de Kooning’s vivacious strokes hint at hidden forms and narrative meaning amidst the sheer chaos of movement, as encapsulated in Abstraction (1949-50), in which a skull and ladder emerge amidst a whirlwind of colorful clouds. With Christmas in July, the viewer is left in a trance, totally absorbed in the painting as we endeavor to make sense of the artist’s bold marks and areas of considered color that tantalize us with untold meaning.

Martinez teases us with the title of the work, Christmas in July, which guides to a particular interpretation of this frenetic fantasy world. We are presented with the apparent polarities of blankets of pure white snow, as suggested by the areas of negative space, contrasting with what is possibly a palm tree protruding on the right. Or maybe what we are seeing is a Northern pine, plucked from colder climes, now emerging from a beachscape where the snow is in fact sand, and the grey section at the bottom of the painting a gentle, lapping tide. Perhaps this is an ode to the Christmases celebrated in Australia in July, typically the coldest month of the year and so embraced by some as a time to celebrate in a similar manner to their friends in the Northern Hemisphere. When considered in the context of the title, a sketched reindeer of black and umber, reminiscent of the delineated animal figures found in prehistoric cave paintings, appears to emerge near the bottom of the painting, and the canvas comes alive with dancing baubles and sheets of strewn wrapping paper.

Grotte de Lascaux, a cave famous for its Paleolithic cava paintings which are estimated to be 17,300 years old, Dordogne, France

“The works are getting thinner. I think it’s because I’m more comfortable, more confident. There’s not as much a need for effort, so there’s not as much build up. I lost the taste for all that texture. I went back to drawings. These days, it takes me less time to achieve what I want. I think I spend more time in here in quiet. Before, I beat my body up, physically, being frantic, primal. Now, I’m more interested in more deliberate moves.” 

Martinez’s passion for his work radiates from his paintings and can be felt in each vivid stroke that flurries across the canvas. In 2012, the artist described his process as incredibly physical, likening his studio to a boxing ring, in which he dives into confrontation with the canvas, before moving back to regroup and reassess his next move. However, by 2016, his renewed confidence in his work is tenable, embodied by a palpable lightness in his gestures and thinness in application of paint, not as heavy and dark as his earlier works. Christmas in July embodies his artistic maturity, his deliberate hand evident in his crisp obsidian lines and assured use of spray paint. Oils, acrylics, spray paint, enamel and paper towel coalesce in unison, and splatters and drips coquettishly intermingle in what Barry McGee has referred to as a ‘visual blitz’.

“I wanted to really capture the speed and immediacy of marker drawing, so I just started blowing them up. They come back to the studio and it’s a bit like a piece of paper with a drawing on, and I stretch it and go from there. Sometimes it gets completely obliterated and sometimes not.”

André Masson, Automatic Drawing, 1924
Collection of the Modern Museum of Art, New York

Martinez deftly achieves the feel of drawings in his large-scale paintings, his graphic black lines in particular evoking the intimacy and sheer velocity of hand movement normally afforded to smaller scale works on paper. Martinez uses the silkscreen as a tool to translate his smaller drawings into substantial sketches of scribbled forms and color, for which his invaluable grasp of graffiti informs his ability to experiment with mark making on a large scale. Further, drawing allows for a level of spontaneity not often granted by painting as a technique, which in turn promotes a certain ‘recklessness’ that Martinez is so keen to capture in his physically demanding works.

Asger Jorn, Letter to my Son, 1956-1957
Collection of the Tate, London

Of a similar vein, his works recall the automatic drawings of the Surrealists, such as those of André Masson, free from manipulation and embracing what they felt to be a more authentic creativity issuing from the subconscious self. However, despite the apparent random quality of his individual strokes, Martinez’s final compositions embody a distinct specificity in their structure and interplay of negative space and forms, and the deliberate configuration of works such as Christmas in July signal the unmistakable maturation of his oeuvre by 2016. Importantly, Martinez has also spoken of the influence of the COBRA group on his work, a short-lived yet highly influential artistic movement that took place after World War II, named after Copenhagen, Brussels and Amsterdam from which its leading members hailed, and known for their expressionistic and childlike works.

“I get super-giddy when the silk-screened canvases of the drawings come in and it’s like five big colouring-book pages. So I stretch them and just go to work, and it has been really fun. That informs other parts of the process and then I feel it is too easy, so then I’ll paint over it.”

The ‘smashed, smeared and scribbled images’ of the COBRA painters mark a striking precedent to Martinez’s paintings, fetishizing spontaneity, and believing art should be impersonal, purely intuitive. COBRA’s admiration and adoption of the art of children shaped their volatile, gestural marks and use of strong colours, which can be found in Martinez’s works such as Christmas in July. When talking of his 2016 paintings with former Arts Contributor for Forbes, Courtney Willis Blair, Martinez mused, ‘These works feel like large works on paper, in terms of the speed, the recklessness. They’re not precious. I like the immediacy of drawings’, wonderfully continuing the important lineage of the COBRA painters, but in a manner that is distinctly his.

Untitled, 2015

Ravenel Taiwan: 5 December 2020
Estimated: TWD 14,000,000 – 22,000,000
TWD 41,760,000 / USD 1,465,263

Ravenel | EDDIE MARTINEZ《Untitled》 Ravenel Autumn Auction 2020 Lot 068

EDDIE MARTINEZ (American, b. 1977)
Untitled, 2015
Oil, acrylic, silkscreen, ink, enamel and spray paint on canvas
72×108 inches (182.8 x 274.3 cm)

Even though he does not come from an academic background, the art of Martinez comes with its own context. Inspired by popular culture, his early works tend to contain violent imagery of a crazy comics style repeatedly featuring figures with big shiny eyes, animals, clowns, skulls, resembling impromptu graffiti wall painting that is also a microcosm of the culture of the metropolis. His style gradually transformed into abstract paintings at a later stage. Art critics believe that his art belongs to the street art and the style of collage may be traced back to the traditional classics in the 1950’s, is similar to a mix-and-match of pop art, performance art, abstract expressionism and the art of CoBra. In some aspects, Martinez’s creative spirit and intentions are closer to the CoBra group. He admires CoBra artists such as Asger Jorn, Karel Appel, and Pierre Alechinsky, and loves the creative process of CoBra group members, which exhibits a sense of speed, autonomy and abandonment of control, in the presentation of large-scale children’s style graffiti. The New York Times once described his art as “reviving styles of the Cobra painters”. Martinez rejects comparison of his art to that of Willem de Kooning, Philip Guston, or Jean-Michel Basquiat. If he had to define his style, he would describe it as “Messy explosions of Picassos “. He admires Picasso’s high productivity, and courage to experiment with various media challenging the historical paintings. Picasso often relied on the same images and composition to come up with new paintings, which gives Martinez confidence to use this method. He would use the same composition and come up with new ideas for alteration before completing the paintings quickly. He claims to enjoy more freedom than Picasso with no formula, so messy that it explodes.

The essence of Martinez’s creativity is rooted in the play and variation of free-hand drawing. He carries markers and a Moleskine sketchbook so he can record his inspirations whenever they appear. The classic style of Moleskine notebooks is also the favorite of writer Hemingway, as well as painters Van Gogh and Picasso, who use it to capture momentary imaginations. For most artists, drawing on paper is a type of exercise that often becomes a prelude to a work of art. For Martinez, however, sketching is his habit and the main focus of his creativity. He draws not only inside his studio, but also at home and while he travels, where drawing becomes a tool to take notes and write journals. Afterwards, he would takes his sketchbook drawings and put them up on the walls of his studio, transforming a little drawing into a large painting or even pasting directly onto the canvas to imbue the spiritual content and feeling of the sketch onto the larger canvas. The pure thought of painting and instinctive sketching leave his work free of strong social or political criticism. Applying whatever is on hand, all things may become part of his paintings regardless of the material. Martinez has included random objects in life in his collages, including oil paint, spray paint, glaze, baby wipes, pizza boxes, or tennis balls. He has also printed onto the canvas with enlargement of silkscreening, put on or scrap away colors. Just like children making marks in life, painting is in his daily life, is a record of living, and is a concept of “mix and match” in contemporary culture. Martinez began incorporating silkscreen printing into his artworks in 2015. This innovative print technique lets the artist translate and enlarge his drawings and sketches to produce richer ideas and images. The artwork, Untitled, to be auctioned is a mixed media masterpiece demonstrating the artist’s brilliant painting technique and authentic inspiration.

High Flying Bird, 2014

Christie’s Hong-Kong: 22 November 2019
Estimated: HKD 1,200,000 – 1,800,000
HKD 15,725,000 / USD 2,009,435

EDDIE MARTINEZ (B. 1977) (christies.com)

EDDIE MARTINEZ (B. 1977)
High Flying Bird, 2014
Oil, enamel, spray paint, thumb tacks and paper collage on canvas
108 1/8 x 144 inches (274.6 x 365.8 cm)
Signed with the artist’s initials and dated ‘EM. 14.’ (lower right)

Flowers

“These are just still life paintings. Except, they are not from life. They are these fantastical flowers. …I don’t feel the need to inject any kind of justification or deeper meaning into these paintings. …It is such a basic and generic subject matter that allows me to have a lot of fun with it. I do get a lot of joy out of it actually.”

Untitled (Flower Pot), 2020

Ravenel Taiwan: 2 June 2024
Estimated: TWD 9,500,000 – 14,000,000
TWD 12,000,000 / USD 370,370

Ravenel | EDDIE MARTINEZ《Untitled (Flower Pot)》 Ravenel Spring Auction 2024 Taipei Lot 040

EDDIE MARTINEZ (American, 1977)
Untitled (Flower Pot), 2020
Oil, acrylic and spray paint on linen
75×66 inches (190.5 x 167.6 cm)
Initialed upper left EM and dated 20

A maverick with a quiet and low-key sense of creativity, Eddie Martinez has captured the attention of many curators, agents and collectors. Art critics often describe Martinez’s rich still life world as a “feast.” If he had to define his style, he would describe it as “Messy explosions of Picassos “. He admires Picasso’s high productivity, and courage to experiment with various media challenging the historical paintings. He constantly challenges himself, engaging in repeated studies of single compositions without indulging in the same style. Everything is fair game for his paintings—casual materials, expected and unexpected objects—all pieced together in his artwork. Painting is his daily routine, a record of life, embodying a contemporary cultural concept of “mix and match.” Eddie Martinez has been curious about painting since he was young, immersed in the prevalent graffiti culture of the American metropolis. Growing up in Brooklyn, New York, this artist was fascinated by graffiti art during his teenage years. His artwork created on canvas retains the rough and rebellious nature of street art, as well as the expressive style of bold lines and vibrant colors. Martinez navigates between representational and abstract styles, using oil paint, enamel, and spray paint in his creations. He often incorporates found objects into his artwork. He is also a skilled draftsman and painter, as evidenced by his large-scale paintings: vibrant and intuitively colorful strokes roam freely on the canvas, while the artist’s swift strokes exude a semi-automatic, intuitive creative attitude. 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 artwork “Untitled (Flower Pot)”uses a large swath of black paint as the background, with vibrant lines and delicate color handling highlighting the colorful flowers in the vase, portraying their vitality and exuberance. The exaggerated proportions of the flowers and leaves, lively and somewhat cartoonish in appearance, exude a spirit of street graffiti and a romantic sentimentality of sensibility and innocence.

Untitled, 2008

Phillips online: 26 July 2023
Estimated: USD 15,000 – 20,000
USD 19,050

Eddie Martinez – 20th Century & Contemp… Lot 10 July 2023 | Phillips

Untitled, 2008, is a prominent example of the artist’s ability to immediately conjure an atmosphere and energy in a work without strict figural depiction. A pot of flowers rests on top of a simple red table along with a handful of other indistinct objects. The subject matter is inherently jovial yet still elicits an air of contemplation and solitude as it sits against a stark white background. Another distinct element of Martinez’s visual language is his continual references to motifs in the art history canon. Perhaps the foremost link between Martinez’s oeuvre and the pillars of art history is his adaptation of the still life. The artist subverts the traditional notion of still lifes, abandoning realism and opting instead to depict seemingly mundane elements of everyday life in his gestural style. Flowerpots, sports equipment, and food are all injected with a sense of dynamism by Martinez’s uncompromisingly bold aesthetic.

The present lot serves as a strong example of Martinez’s ability to deftly reshape a historically static aesthetic into a product of his own style. Much like the Dutch still life masters of the 17^th century, Martinez has embraced the idea of the table as a staging area upon which objects and their forms, colors and auras can be highlighted.

“It’s something I’ve gravitated to over the past decade – this idea of the container. I used to make these tabletop still lifes, where everything kind of fit into that rectangular shape.”

While his table paintings have become a staple of his oeuvre, consistently appearing throughout his career, Untitled offers a glimpse into the early stages of Martinez’s experimentation with the motif. Around this time, Martinez would work closely with his longtime friend Chuck Webster. Both based in Brooklyn at the time, the artists would often collaborate on drawings. Their first monographs were even published together in the same book. The present lot serves as a reminder of the bond between the two artists, as an inscription by Webster including his initials and the title of a work from his King Ropes series appears on the reverse.

I Feel Alright, 2007

Phillips New-York: 9 March 2022
Estimated: USD 150,000 – 200,000
USD 352,800

Eddie Martinez – New Now New York Lot 31 March 2022 | Phillips

Presenting a theatrical build-up of forms converging into a vivacious bouquet of flowers, Eddie Martinez’s I Feel Alright, 2007, is a quintessential example of the artist’s highly diverse practice. Martinez refrains from adhering to a singular painterly style or specific period, opting to look all over the canon of art history for guidance instead. The result of this practice manifests itself in I Feel Alright, an early work that epitomizes Martinez’s desire to merge the contemporary zeitgeist with that of prominent images in art history that preceded him, from Henri Matisse’s Bouquet (Vase with Two Handles) to Philip Guston’s still lifes.

Henri Matisse, Bouquet (Vase with Two Handles), 1907. State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg.
© 2022 Succession H. Matisse / Artists Rights Society (ARS), New York

Martinez was twice enrolled at the Art Institute of Boston, but ultimately rejected the constraints of a formal art education by spending most of his time outdoors and honing his graffiti skills. Martinez’s proclivity for street art, cartoons, and graphic illustrations is readily apparent in the equivocal forms and bold colors that appear to be a product of improvisation and spontaneity in I Feel Alright. As much as Martinez’s idiosyncratic painterly style is influenced by street art, I Feel Alright is firmly rooted in the canonical history of painting that has inspired the artist throughout his career. Flowers have been a notable subject for Martinez, resurfacing habitually throughout the artist’s oeuvre since conceiving such works as I Feel Alright. While his recent flower subjects reflect more of the influence of Bernard Buffet and Roy Lichtenstein with their brutal/heavy outlines, his earlier iterations including the present work evoke the colorful gesturalism of Abstract Expressionists such as Willem de Kooning and Joan Mitchell.

Yours for the Taking, 2007

Phillips New-York: 28 September 2021
Estimated: USD 100,000 – 200,000
USD 201,600

Eddie Martinez – New Now New York Lot 21 September 2021 | Phillips

This classically composed still life, Yours for the Taking, 2007, is characteristic of Eddie Martinez’s playful yet rigorous painting practice. Drawing inspiration from an array of sources ranging from popular urban culture to Abstract Expressionism, the present work defines Martinez’s ethos: that the accoutrements of both art history and contemporary culture are his for the taking.

Clara Peters, A Bouquet of Flowers, circa 1612. The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Purchase, Lila Acheson Wallace, Howard S. and Nancy Marks, Friends of European Paintings, and Mr. and Mrs. J. Tomilson Hill Gifts, Gift of Humanities Fund Inc., by exchange, Henry and Lucy Moses Fund Inc. Gift, and funds from various donors, 2020

“I didn’t really know how to make oil paintings. I guess I just looked at history for it and tried to figure out how I was going to do it. But that’s kind of how everything has really been for me.”

His teenage years, like many of his generation, were influenced by street art which later grew into a deeper respect for art history. This confluence spawned his idiosyncratic mixture of styles, combining spray paint, oils, and the occasional textile or loose object in his canvases to create compositions that teem with vivid intensity. His impressionistic renderings of flowers and large-eyed figures catapulted him to success in the late 2000s, and his work is now held in esteemed international collections such as the Morgan Library, New York and the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Philadelphia. Martinez also references Cubist plays of perspective, as what looks to be a basket of flowers perched on a stool turns out to be a more diverse collection on closer inspection: through a fray of semi-abstract borders and brushstrokes, a pacifier and other toys become visible; polka dots and a smiley face materialize from the haze. These objects toy with depth and shadow while black and white spray paints blur the picture plane, invoking the frenetic verve and playful ambiguity of contemporary life.

Untitled (White Flower Pot), 2010

Ravenel Taiwan: 5 December 2020
Estimated: TWD 6,000,000 – 9,000,000
TWD 24,000,000 / USD 842,105

Ravenel | EDDIE MARTINEZ《Untitled (White Flower Pot)》 Ravenel Autumn Auction 2020 Lot 067

EDDIE MARTINEZ (American, b. 1977)
Untitled (White Flower Pot), 2010
Oil, acrylic, spray and silicone on canvas
60×48 inches (152.4 x 121.9 cm)
Signed reverse E. MARTINEZ, titled UNTITLED, inscribed OIL, ACRYLIC, SPRAY, SILICONE and dated 2010

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.

“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 over and over again.”

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.

Other Paintings

Open Ocean Mind, 2020

Phillips London: 19 April 2024
Estimated: GBP 150,000 – 200,000
GBP 127,000 / USD 157,480

Eddie Martinez – New Now: Modern & Con… Lot 17 April 2024 | Phillips

Through vibrant colour, dynamic brushwork, and abstract geometric form, Eddie Martinez invites the viewer into a world of expressive energy and spontaneity in this 2020 work. Amongst the bold and rapid brushwork and symphony of rich blues and yellows, a figure’s head and shoulders emerge from the central section of the composition, anchoring its looser forms and acting as a pivot point for Martinez’s play between abstraction and figuration. Created through the deft layering of oil, acrylic, and spray paints, Open Ocean Mind retains a densely textured quality that compliments and counterpoints its lighter, brighter palette. The artist’s intuitive approach to his compositions allows for the constant evolution of his pictorial vocabulary while lending complexity and ambiguity to his subject matter. With no discernible focal point, Martinez asks the viewer to ‘not feel obligated to think anything, I don’t have anything in the work I want people to see, I want it to all be interpreted’. Exploring the boundaries of abstraction and interpretation, Open Ocean Mind is a work that is both dynamic and thought provoking.

Beach Death, 2018

Sotheby’s Hong-Kong: 7 October 2022
Estimated: HKD 1,800,000 – 2,500,000
HKD 2,142,000 / USD 272,848

Eddie Martinez 艾迪・瑪汀尼茲 | Beach Death 海灘之亡 | Contemporary Evening Auction | 2022 | Sotheby’s (sothebys.com)

EDDIE MARTINEZ (B. 1977)
Beach Death, 2018
Silkscreen ink, oil paint, spray paint and thumbtack on canvas
75×96 inches (190.5 x 243.8 cm)
Signed and dated 18

Known for his energetic manipulation of color, Eddie Martinez’s large-scale canvases represent an amalgamation of abstraction with representation paired with the iconographic elements of street art and the gestural expression of Abstract Expressionism. Muscular brushstrokes and the faint lines of spray paint dramatically cut through the rich impasto of oil paint on the canvas of Beach Death, representative of the new energy in contemporary American painting being ushered in by Martinez. Shifting between traditional and unconventional methods to materialize his distorted, semi-abstract paintings, Martinez combines historical references with modern media to produce a style that is unmistakably, and electrifyingly, his own. As is characteristic of the artist’s oeuvre, the present work explores the imagination, inviting the viewer to participate in otherwise unexplored realms of curiosity at the intersection of space and density, light and dark, producing a piece that is both of the past and of the future. Eddie Martinez, who only briefly attended art school, worked mostly outdoors on graffiti on the streets of San Diego and Boston. Spending years developing his unique visual language and motifs, Martinez still paints with the instinctive scale and speed of a graffiti artist.

Escuchar (To Listen), 2011

Phillips Hong-Kong: 21 June 2022
Estimated: HKD 1,500,000 – 2,500,000
HKD 1,500,000 / USD 191,085

Eddie Martinez – 20th Century & Contem… Lot 113 June 2022 | Phillips

Described by The New York Times as possessing ‘exceptional gifts as a painter and draftsman, which he exuberantly combines’, Eddie Martinez is a gifted visual artist who operates at the confluence of Abstract Expressionism and American graffiti. Gleaning inspiration from both contemporary street art and the art historical canon, he filters them through personal experience and popular culture, creating exceptionally energetic and endlessly intriguing works that have enraptured a diverse range of audiences. Martinez’s signature style comprises coarse brushwork, bold impasto, and heavy contours, often rendered in vibrant, aggressively applied hues. The raw, frenetic energy of his lines immediately brings to mind the works of Willem de Kooning, whose work is characterized by fervent and uninhibited brushstrokes. Much like de Kooning, Martinez’s application of paint and line is intuitive and effortless, imbued with a sense of both chaos and wonder.

“I’m kind of dancing around this thing, doing it as quick as possible, and just letting the marks fall where they fall.”

Willem de Kooning, Untitled 13, 1977
Sold by Phillips New York, 17 May 2018, for USD $4,155,000 (Premium)

In his abstract subjects and often incomprehensible contexts, Martinez’s paintings are also evocative of Joan Miró’s Surrealist fantasies. Populated by otherworldly creatures, their origins occasionally indicated by human or animal-like features, Martinez’s oeuvre is colorfully confusing and curiously endearing. His energetic, frantic works are also frequently compared to those of Jean-Michel Basquiat, who also fused painting and drawing, in an electrifying fashion, oscillating between the realms of abstraction and figuration.

Jean-Michel Basquiat, Untitled, 1982
Sold by Phillips New York, 18 May 2022, for USD $85,000,000 (Premium) 

Despite a myriad of influences, Martinez manages to develop a visual language that is uniquely his own— a universally appealing aesthetic that rejects conformity and confinement, turning away from specified contexts to allow viewers to contemplate his works at our own volition.

‘The thing with viewers, I never have a thing I’m trying to put upon anyone. I think that’s the job of the viewer, to figure out what they want to get out of it. Once it leaves, once I’ve made the thing, it’s not really mine anymore…I made it, it’s done, now it’s for people to look at and see what they want to see. Whenever anyone asks me if it’s this or that, I just don’t say anything, because I don’t want to inform it any more than I already did in the studio.”

Celebrated by critics and collectors alike, Martinez has established himself as one of the contemporary art world’s leading artists. His impressive oeuvre has also been the subject of numerous group and solo exhibitions worldwide and has been presented by exclusive galleries, including but not limited to Galerie Perrotin, Timothy Taylor, and Kohn Gallery. Most recently, the artist held the solo show Pigeon Sweat (2022) with Blum & Poe, Los Angeles, and Fingers Pointing at the Moon (2021) with Galerie Perrotin, Shanghai. Martinez’s unique visual language and distinctive style have earned him international acclaim, and his works continue to grow in demand with both young and established collectors, obtaining astronomical results at auction in recent years.

Lost Luggage, 2008

Christie’s New-York: 10 March 2022
Estimated: USD 220,000 – 280,000
USD 264,600

EDDIE MARTINEZ (B. 1977), Lost Luggage | Christie’s (christies.com)

EDDIE MARTINEZ (B. 1977)
Lost Luggage, 2008
Acrylic and oil on canvas
60 1/4 x 72 inches (153 x 182.9 cm)
Signed with the artist’s initials and dated ‘EM 08’ (lower right)
Signed, titled and dated again ‘”LOST LUGGAGE” Martinez. 2008.’ (on the reverse)
Signed again with the artist’s initials and dated again ‘EM 2008’ (on the stretcher)

In Lost Luggage, Eddie Martinez’s protagonist stands confrontationally in the foreground of the composition, with a boxing glove visible on the figure’s left hand. Behind this commanding figure the canvas erupts in a raucous display of dynamically layered chaos. And yet, there is, in fact, a method to the thickly impastoed madness. The seemingly disordered composition is masterfully controlled by the signature elements that characterize the artist’s most sought-after works: bold, frenetic brushwork, urgent lines, graphic forms and an adventurous color palette. Often compared to the likes of artists from Willem de Kooning and Pablo Picasso to Philip Guston and Jean-Michel Basquiat, the formal elements in Martinez’s work seem to take stylistic inspiration from myriad sources, notably (though not limited to) graffiti and Abstract Expressionism. However, with his remarkable talent and undeniable command over his vision, Martinez’s influences serve more as catalysts for the artist to explore his own intensely personal visual language, leading him to create highly unique, vivid, and daring compositions. Lost Luggage is a densely worked, mixed media canvas exemplary of Martinez’s energetic and nontraditional practice. Packed within the four edges of this single canvas, one discerns key figurative elements that are repeated throughout the artist’s oeuvre, including the bug-eyes of the heroic main character, the central flower-laden fruit basket, and the overripe banana turned tropical bird beak in the lower right. The highly textured surface hints at some of the artist’s aforementioned influences, featuring quick flicks of spray paint à la street art and long, luxurious paint drips à la action painting, the latter of which are most apparent along the bottom edge but also interspersed throughout.

Executed in 2008, Lost Luggage also stands as an early experimentation with erasure, revisions and negative space, which have all been increasingly prominent elements in Martinez’s latest works – namely what have become known as his “White Outs.” Indeed, the artist’s “whiting out” of large swaths of the canvas allows for tension and mystery to linger on the surface. Not intended to create any illusion of a blank, unworked canvas, this gesture instead appears to openly invite the viewer to realize that the work was revised – that at least some part of this canvas’s story is no longer legible to the viewer. This is most clearly evidenced in the drip traces left partially uncovered suspended over the figure’s right shoulder, their respective starting points made invisible by thick, horizontal strokes of white paint. Contrasting the negative space, the positive space is alight with stand-out pops of rich color that ignite the canvas. The deeper jewel-toned greens and edgy chartreuse offset the bright cyan blue and shamrock green accents, while the warmer tones of buttery yellow, ochre, and scarlet punctuate the canvas, drawing the viewer’s eye rhythmically through the scene. Yet, in spite of all this, the scene itself remains nearly impenetrable. In its semi-figurative, semi-abstract presentation, the composition all but begs to be read, but at every turn the narrative evades. What is unfolding? Like many of Martinez’s paintings, it is intentionally ambiguous, allowing the work to thrive in the space of individual and open interpretation.

Untitled, 2007

Phillips London: 9 December 2021
Estimated: GBP 200,000 – 300,000
GBP 466,200 / USD 614,875

Eddie Martinez – New Now London Lot 16 December 2021 | Phillips

Vacillating between Jean-Michel Basquiat’s street poetry, Philip Guston’s darkly humorous portraits and the faux naivety of Paul Klee’s compositions, Untitled is a quintessential example of Martinez’s playful artistic expression that has garnered him worldwide critical acclaim over the past decades. Unapologetically walking the line between abstraction and figuration, the self-taught Brooklyn-based artist has nurtured an exhaustive artistic process that blends elements from his personal experience and historical movements such as action painting, neo-expressionism, and popular culture that captivate him. Famously recognized for his monumental expressionistic paintings, Martinez has developed an energetic, spontaneous, and fast-paced creative process that consists of blowing up his drawings and silk-screening them to large-scale canvases.

‘It’s sort of like a boxing ring in here, it’s a very physical process.
Maybe I’m a little bit addicted to that.”

The re-contextualization of cultural elements Martinez borrows from diverse sources and their innovative reconfiguration is highly characteristic of his ‘universal’ pictorial language. Executed in 2007 and drawing on an almost surrealist language reconfigured into vivid hues of sunset orange, olive green, fleshy pink, and sky blue, the present work is supremely representative of the artist’s distinctive visual vocabulary. Like a child scribbling on his parent’s bedroom walls, Martinez recklessly discharges his emotions in his frenetic canvases, which become kaleidoscopic renderings of snapshots from his personal life.

Paul Klee, Senecio, 1922, Kunstmuseum, Basel, Switzerland, Image: Bridgeman Images

The red and white rectangular backline of Untitled acts as the battlefield of a chess board game in which Martinez confronts Guston’s iconic bean heads, and Basquiat’s gliding yard-birds and skull. Other team players as Yayoi Kusama’s blue pumpkin displayed on the left-hand side, a tall, grey rook, and a Christmas tree appear to be joining this festive chessboard game, beginning to resemble a colorful Lego world of joyous toys that disarm viewers and create an entrancing world of their own. Martinez himself often alluded to his impatient nature when working in the studio, releasing the inner child that lives in him.

Gladiator, 2015

Sotheby’s Hong-Kong: 9 October 2021
Estimated: HKD 1,000,000 – 2,000,000
HKD 2,772,000 / USD 356,085

Eddie Martinez 艾迪・瑪汀尼茲 | Gladiator 角斗士 | Contemporary Art Evening Sale | 2021 | Sotheby’s

EDDIE MARTINEZ (b. 1977)
Gladiator, 2015
Oil, enamel, spray paint, silkscreen ink and paper collage on canvas
72×108 inches (182.9 x 274.3 cm)
Signed, initialed, titled and dated 15 and 2015 on the reverse

Executed with tremendous flair and technical bravura, Gladiator displays the full breadth of Eddie Martinez’s formidable arsenal of skills that condenses seven decades of painting – revealing influences from the European CoBrA painters to the American Abstract Expressionists and from Surrealism to popular culture. Combining painting and drawing, on the one hand, and abstraction and representation, on the other hand, in a unique vernacular populated with strong personal iconography, Martinez’s raw, rambunctious canvases employ exuberant exhilarating use of color and texture via spontaneous amalgamations of oil, enamel, spray paint, silk screen and collage elements. Created in 2015, the present superlative work is particularly demonstrative of Martinez’s renewed focus on the gestural line as the backbone of his artistic output with its prominent bursts of black outlines fused with frolicking taches of color. Gladiator percolates with a caffeinated urgency all the while articulating the signature figurative elements that have become hallmarks of his iconic style.

Philip Guston, Gladiators, 1940, oil and pencil on canvas Digital image, The Museum of Modern Art, New York/Scala, Florence © 2021 The Estate of Philip Guston

Entitled Gladiator, the present work further enunciates a distinctively heightened vigor that recalls the riotous visceral dynamism of Philip Guston’s Gladiators (1940). Like Guston, who charted a legendary path between figuration and abstraction, Martinez extends a long tradition of artists who employed pop figurative imagery as cultural tropes while blurring the line between conventional modes of artmaking. Gladiator ranks amongst the most superior of Martinez’s canvases and bears witness to a reinvigorated intuition and charged vitality fresh to the artist’s oeuvre – one indebted to a focus on drawing that greatly augmented the rich complexity of his recent practice. Since 2011, Martinez has maintained a drawing wall in his Brooklyn studio tacked with thousands of sketches, to which he routinely adds, rotates, and reworks.

“[Drawing] opens things up for me and hones things in a way that I wouldn’t be able to access without it.” 

Capitalizing on the conflict between abstraction and draughtsmanship with masterful fluidity, Gladiator forges new ground and elucidates the vital role of drawing within his practice. A sketch similar to Gladiator was exhibited at The Drawing Center (2017-2018), which explored how drawing served as an imperative driving force within his art. A testament to Martinez’s painterly mastery, the surface of Gladiator reverberates with heightened tension and intrigue accented by forms that simultaneously emerge and recoil into the recesses of abstraction. Instantly arresting in impact, the work captures the bold innovation of the artist’s celebrated corpus of paintings, providing revelatory insight into the steep career trajectory of one of the most swiftly rising stars of our time.

New York Electric, 2010

Ravenel Taipei: 17 July 2021
Estimated: TWD 7,000,000 – 10,000,000
TWD 8,400,000 / USD 299,810

Ravenel | EDDIE MARTINEZ《New York Electric》 Ravenel Spring Auction 2021 Taipei Lot 066

EDDIE MARTINEZ (American, 1977)
New York Electric, 2010
Oil, acrylic and spray paint on canvas
48×60 inches (121.9 x 152.4 cm)
Signed lower left MARTINEZ and titled NEW YORK ELECTRIC
Signed reverse E. MARTINEZ, titled NEW YORK ELECTRIC, inscribed OIL, ACRYLIC, SPRAY PAINT and dated 2010

“The Feast” has been used frequently by critics to describe the bountiful still life depicted by Martinez. Just like a modern version of Italian master Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, his still life paintings brought about a rich and abundant visual feast to the viewers. Martinez also excelled at flattening a three-dimensional space, using a bird’s eye view for composition to scale down objects as he wished. His 2010 painting New York Electric used a sapphire blue background to highlight the table top full of objects, just as a child spreading out his toy box to show off his toy collection. The crayon-like thick graffiti outlines delineated toys, playing cards, audio tapes, screws and other objects. The semi-concrete object appearance served as a transition period before the artist’s pure abstraction style took hold. Another captivating detail of the painting was the two big-eyed idiot “blockheads” with dark black outlines on a white plaster background. Judging by the artist’s creative context, this symbol may be seen as a representation of the artist’s self-image as it has appeared repetitively since 2005. In 2020, Martinez collaborated with AllRightsReserved (ARR) to launch a limited edition of Blockhead Lamp. The lamp was a three-dimensional sculpture of stained glass, which was an extension of this theme.

The painting New York Electric had been displayed in May of 2011 at the Hong Kong International Art Fair 2011 (Art HK 11), as well as the New York Electric Martinez Solo Exhibition held by the Patricia Low Contemporary in Geneva, Switzerland from September to November of the same year. The focus of the exhibition was floral still life and a series of bust portraits. The dense oil colorants and layers of unrefined brushstrokes added coatings to the fluffy canvas, generating full tension between the two materials. The selection of the media allowed the viewers to observe how the artist identified with the historical context and continued the classic traditional thinking. However, the presentation technique and format were completed in the vocabulary of personalized improvisation. Martinez twice enrolled in art academies, but rejected the constraints of that environment. His self-learning and exploratory creative method enabled him to achieve his unique artistic performance in a care-free style.

Mandala #7 (Frankenthaler Wash), 2016

Phillips London: 16 April 2021
Estimated: GBP 200,000 – 300,000
GBP 201,600 / USD 278,720

Eddie Martinez – 20th Century & Conte… Lot 212 April 2021 | Phillips

Bold, energetic, visceral and thought provoking, Eddie Martinez’s Mandala #7 (Frankenthaler Wash), 2016, encapsulates the artist’s immense energy and reflective influential subject matter from which the work takes its name. Celebrated as part of a suite of seven large scale works that marked the artist’s first solo museum show, Ants at a Picknic at the Davis Museum, Boston in 2017, the works highlight Martinez’s diverse inspirations from the graffiti and skateboarding culture of New York to Buddhist religious practice. Initially inspired by the artist’s earlier sketch book studies of mandalas, Martinez enlarged the images and used silkscreen ink to replicate the small drawings onto the final canvases. The mandala series reflect Martinez’s love of graffiti in their fast-moving freedom of line whilst also highlighting the importance of drawing and the skill it developed for both his graffiti and large painted canvas studio works. Highly admired for his textural surfaces created in a multitude of media, the Mandala works vibrantly pulsate with a thick impasto of oil paint, spray paint, and other varied materials, including scraps of fabric and baby wipes. As the artist explained, ‘I was in a state of turmoil and got obsessed with the amount of trash I was producing. And so I just started sticking it onto the canvas.’ The result is a wonderfully absorbing and engaging abstraction.

Eddie Martinez, Installation view of Ants at a Picknic at the Davis Museum at Wellesley College, MA, 2017.
Image: © Eddie Martinez. Courtesy of the artist and Mitchell-Innes & Nash, New York.

In conjunction with the Ants at a Picknic exhibition, visiting Buddhist monks from Ithaca, New York, constructed a richly complex Medicine Buddha sand mandala – a shape infused with healing properties – amidst the paintings in the gallery space. Mandalas are microcosms. For Martinez, they represent his world, his inner thoughts and compulsive approach to drawings, much as a Buddhist mandala represents a microcosm of the entire universe. In contrast however to the painstakingly meticulous creation of the Buddhist practice which is then importantly swept away and eradicated upon creation, Martinez embodies the spiritual and reflective importance whilst creating an excitingly poignant and permanent record.