The two sculptures draw on personal experience and wide-ranging historical inspiration, notably the modernist tradition of assemblage—the composition of found objects practiced by such canonical artists as Pablo Picasso and Joan Miró. Like his energetic paintings and drawings, Martinez’s sculptures feature shapes that tease at recognizable forms but remain ambiguous, combining raw energy and thoughtful construction.
“A lot of objects I was finding already had their own life," the artist has said of the elements he collected when he began to make sculpture in 2013. "They were already somewhat destroyed and in a unique shape. A half children’s scissor, a bottle cap—small. It was a way to approach sculpture without having to be a sculptor.”
Born on a military base in Groton, Connecticut in 1977, Martinez grew up moving frequently around the United States, including a period spent in Texas. Drawing was one of the few constants during his nomadic childhood, and even while moving from state to state, carrying even a few materials provided a sense of stability in being able to spontaneously put pen to paper. Largely self-taught, Martinez tried and ultimately left art school, after which he gained another kind of visual education working in museums and galleries as an art installer before becoming a professional artist.
In the mid-to-late 1990s, Martinez came to admire an influential group of artists who worked in an improvisational style, helping bridge underground culture with fine art. Artists like Barry McGee, Margaret Kilgallen, and the skateboarder Mark Gonzalez were all notable for their work across paintings, prints, and public murals and sculptures, all characterized by bold line work. Martinez’s work also shares a formal affinity with many of the 20th century artists who advanced automatic drawing and assemblage, several of whom are present in the Nasher’s collection, including David Smith, Melvin Edwards, and Joan Miró.
Half Stepping Hot Stepper, in particular, shares a formal affinity with a Nasher favorite, currently on view in the Center’s garden: Joan Miró's Caress of a Bird (La caresse d'un oiseau), 1967. Miró's figurative painted bronze is composed of found objects collected on his daily walks in the countryside of Catalunya. These include an outhouse seat, a tortoise shell, an ironing board, and charmingly, a donkey's straw hat for a head, including two eye-like holes made to accommodate a donkey's ears. Like Martinez, Miró chose to transform these ephemeral and precarious compositions by casting them in bronze. Resisting some of the stateliness of this traditional material, both artists painted over the metal with bright primary and secondary colors reminiscent of children's drawings and cartoons.
Martinez’s sculptures incorporate objects scavenged from his immediate surroundings, the shared materials of public space. Installed on the Katy Trail, Half Stepping Hot Stepper and Untitled might inspire passersby to think about how they live together with the odds and ends that surround them.
About Eddie Martinez
Eddie Martinez (b. 1977, Groton Naval Base, Connecticut) is an American painter and sculptor who lives and works in Brooklyn. His paintings incorporate bold contours through the combination of mediums such as oil, enamel, and spray paint, and often include collaged found objects. Martinez additionally utilizes these scavenged objects in the construction of three-dimensional works, combining and casting them in bronze. The resulting sculptures recall the exuberant forms that dominate his canvases. Recent solo exhibitions include exhibitions at the Parrish Art Museum in Water Mill, NY, Space K in Seoul in 2024, the Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit and the Yuz Museum in Shanghai in 2019, a presentation of new sculptures and paintings at the Bronx Museum in 2018, an exhibition that featured a rotating display of his recent works on paper at the Drawing Center in 2017, and an exhibition at the Davis Museum at Wellesley College, MA in 2017. He is currently representing the Republic of San Marino at the 2024 Venice Biennale. His work is included in numerous international public collections including the Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh, PA; Davis Museum at Wellesley College, Wellesley, MA; Museo de Arte de Puerto Rico, San Juan, Puerto Rico; Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego, CA; National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C.; Saatchi Collection, London, UK; and the Yuz Museum, Shanghai, China, among others.
About the Katy Trail
The Katy Trail, as most locals know it, began in 2000, but the history of the Katy Trail stretches back to the age of railroads. The Union Pacific Railroad built the Missouri-Kansas-Texas Railroad and established the network in 1865. The route was also commonly called the K-T, and eventually the Katy. Following the heyday of the railroad, Union Pacific donated the abandoned lines to the City of Dallas in 1993. In the 1990s, a group of passionate neighbors and local businesses proposed that the line be converted into a public trail. Their idea resulted in the formation in 1997 of Friends of the Katy Trail, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization in a private/public partnership with the City of Dallas. Friends of the Katy Trail is charged with maintaining, enhancing, and advocating for the Katy Trail as the premier trail for recreation, wellness, and alternative transportation in Dallas. The Friends celebrated their 25th Anniversary in 2022.
Today, the Katy Trail is a treasured greenbelt destination for Dallas citizens and visitors and has 3 million visits a year. The Trail is a key quality of life amenity in Dallas and has spurred more than $1 billion in economic development.
About Katy Trail Art
Katy Trail Art partners with Dallas area museums, art collectors, and the community at large to expand the role of contemporary art in public spaces in Dallas. The initiative borrows, commissions, and produces world-class art projects on and around the Katy Trail to inspire creativity, spark conversation, encourage self-reflection, challenge assumptions, foster community building, and promote civic ownership of the Katy Trail.
Katy Trail Art Founding Donors
Anonymous, Pat Baudendistel, J. Patrick Collins, Bela and Chase Cooley, Jennifer and John Eagle, Faisal Halum and Brian Bolke, Christina and Sal Jafar, Laura and Greg Koonsman, Kasey and Todd Lemkin, Ann and Chris Mahowald, Jessica and Dirk Nowitzki, Janelle and Alden Pinnell, Kelli and Allen Questrom, Cindy and Howard Rachofsky, John S. Relton, Ginny Searcy, Sewell Automotive Companies, Lindsay and Blake Shipp, Amanda and Charlie Shufeldt, Amy and Les Ware, Peggy and Mark Zilbermann