César Martínez

César Augusto Martínez (born 1944 in Laredo, Texas) is an artist, prominent in the field of Chicano art. While studying at what was then called Texas A&I College (later Texas A&I University), he became involved in the Chicano movement for civil rights. He subsequently befriended several of its leaders.

Martínez is best known for his depictions of Chicano social types, which are referred to generically as 'batos" and "rucas." They are composite images, taken from vintage magazines, photographs, yearbook pictures, obituaries, and other sources. The artist has refined these images in paintings, drawings, and prints for many years.

Martínez also takes mythological subjects, South Texas folklore, and the Southwest landscape as subjects. He is also a photographer.

Martínez has been based in San Antonio, Texas since 1971.

Early life Martínez was raised by his mother and her family in Laredo. His father died when he was an infant. He graduated from Martin High School in Laredo, Texas. Martínez received an Education Bachelor of Science Degree in All-Level Art Education from Texas A&I University, Kingsville, Texas, in 1968. Martínez, rather than expecting to be an artist, had hoped to become a bullfighter, and he has often utilized bullfighting imagery in his art.

Martínez was drafted into the army in 1969. After serving in California and Korea, he moved to San Antonio in 1971.

Artistic career Before he began making images of people in 1978 (the batos and rucas noted above), Martínez experimented with color field painting. He joined the Con Safo art group in San Antonio in late 1972, and he resigned in November 1974. Martínez organized an exhibition under the name Los Quemados in June 1975 at the Mexican Cultural Institute in San Antonio. He'd hoped that Los Quemados would become an informal association of artists without officers and guidelines, but, he says, "it never really gelled." One more Los Quemados exhibition was held in San Antonio at St. Philip's College on September 16, 1975.

Two other paintings by Martínez were featured in the inaugural exhibition of the Cheech Center, which formed a triptych: Bato con Sunglasses and Sylvia with Chango's Letter Jacket, both from 2000. The artist described the former as: "my idea of ultra-cool when I was a teenager.... Though I've never portrayed myself as a bato con sunglasses, I have been asked if it is me in some of them…. perhaps it is my affinity with the subject coming through. This cool bato con sunglasses character is very generic, mysterious and idealized, but in spite of all the ones I've done, this character remains an enigma, challenging and elusive for me." Sylvia Wearing Chago's Letter Jacket is a unique variation on the proud batos wearing their own high school letter jackets. Eight photographs of the United Farm Worker (UFW) eagle stenciled on various objects (including the Alamo cenotaph in San Antonio) are featured in the catalogue The Other Side of the Alamo: Art Against the Myth.

In 1997, Martinez was the International Artist in Residence at Artpace in San Antonio, TX. In 1999, he was the Visiting Artist at the University of Texas at San Antonio, San Antonio, TX. In 1999, Martínez also had a retrospective at The McNay Art Museum in San Antonio, TX.

Exhibitions

Solo exhibitions

2017 – West Kings Highway: The Work of César A. Martínez, the National Museum of Mexican Art, Chicago, IL; curator: Benito Huerta 2015 – Modes, Rustberg Gallery, The University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, Brownsville, TX César A. Martínez, An Overview: Old and New, North American Gallery, McAllen, TX 2011 – Batos y Más: Recent Work by César A. Martínez, Morgan Gallery, St. Philip's College, San Antonio, TX 2008 – César A. Martínez & Gaspar Enriquez: New Works, Galería Ortiz Contemporary, San Antonio, TX 2006 – César A. Martínez, Yuma Art Center Museum, Yuma, AZ Vistas of the Frontera: César A. Martínez Paintings, Tucson Museum of Art, Tucson AZ 2001 – César A. Martínez. Student Union Art Gallery, Boise State University, Boise, ID 1999 – César A. Martínez: A Retrospective, The McNay Art Museum, San Antonio, TX; (catalogue) 1999 – César A. Martínez 1999 Artist of the Year, San Antonio Art League Museum, San Antonio, TX; (catalogue) 1998- César A. Martínez: Cultura de South Texas, Art Museum of South Texas, Corpus Christi, TX; curator: Benito Huerta (catalogue) 1997 – New Works: 97.3, Artpace, San Antonio, TX 1995 – César A. Martínez: Reflejos Mestizos, El Paso Museum of Art, El Paso, TX; (catalogue) 1991 – César A. Martínez: Three Major Series, Ben P. Bailey Gallery, Texas A & I University, Kingsville, TX 1990 – César A. Martínez Exhibition, MARS (Movimiento Artístico del Rio Salado), Phoenix, AZ 1990 – César A. Martínez: Mixed Media Paintings, San Angelo Museum of Fine Art, San Angelo, TX 1988 – There's a Chicano in There Somewhere, Guadalupe Cultural Arts Center, Guadalupe Theater Gallery, San Antonio, TX

Group exhibitions Martínez has exhibited his work at the Fresno Metropolitan Museum; Centro Cultural Aztlán in San Antonio, Texas; and the Yerbabuena Center for the Arts, San Francisco, among other venues.

Collections

American Art Museum, Smithsonian Institution, Art Museum of South Texas, Corpus Christi, TX Austin Museum of Art, Austin, TX Blanton Museum of Art, Austin, TX Brownsville Museum of Fine Art, Brownsville, TX Cheech Marin Center for Chicano Art, Culture & Industry, of the Riverside Art Museum, Riverside, California El Paso Museum of Art, El Paso, TX Linda Pace Foundation, San Antonio, TX McNay Art Museum, Museo de Arte Moderno, Mexico City Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX Museum of Latin American Art, Long Beach, CA Museum of TTU Association, Lubbock, TX National Museum of Mexican Art, Chicago, IL Polk Museum of Art, Lakeland, FL San Antonio Museum of Art, The University of Texas at San Antonio, San Antonio, TX Vero Beach Museum of Art, Vero Beach, FL

Honors and awards

1985 – Best Painting, Museo del Barrio, New York City, NY 1999 – Retrospective at the McNay Art Museum, San Antonio, TX 1999 – Artist of the Year, San Antonio Art League Museum, San Antonio, TX 2017 – Distinction in the Arts Award, City of San Antonio Department of Arts & Culture, San Antonio, TX