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Ceremonial Landscape

Date

1993

Creator

Mario Martinez
Raclin Murphy Museum of Art

Mario Martinez is a contemporary Native American Abstract Expressionist who uses abstract forms reminiscent of Western modernist art to represent spiritual elements of Yaqui tradition. He was raised in a Yaqui village that became engulfed by the city of Scottsdale, Arizona, and he grew up in the Phoenix area under the influence of three cultures: Yaqui, Anglo, and Mexican American. These multiple cultural influences are reflected in his paintings, particularly Yaqui song, dance, ceremony, and religion, and European modernism. His work has been primarily inspired by Wassily Kandinsky and Pablo Picasso, and his abstract compositions are constructed with layers of meaning.

Ceremonial Landscape synthesizes Western modernist visual traditions and concepts with images inspired by Mario’s Yaqui heritage, using bright, compelling colors. As a landscape, it is an abstract expression of Yaqui ceremony and the cultural and physical environment into which ceremonial activities are placed. Those who know something of Yaqui culture will recognize the stick or sword, important in many Yaqui ceremonies. Martinez works primarily in acrylic and oil, using color very effectively. In the early 1990s, he began adding materials other than paint to his canvases. For Ceremonial Landscape, he used acrylics and materials common in traditional Yaqui ceremonial regalia.

from Snite Museum of Art, Selected Works: Snite Museum of Art (Notre Dame, 2005)

Images

This is called Ceremonial Landscape within the category of Paintings.Open in external viewer application
This is called Ceremonial Landscape within the category of Paintings.
This is called Ceremonial Landscape within the category of Paintings.
This is called Ceremonial Landscape within the category of Paintings.

Metadata

Creator
Mario Martinez (American, b. 1953)
Date
1993
Classification
Paintings
Medium
Acrylic and mixed media on canvas
Dimensions
67 x 70 in. (170.18 x 177.8 cm)
Credit Line
Walter R. Beardsley Endowment for Contemporary Art
Copyright Status
Copyright
Copyright Statement
© Mario Martinez
Subject
Abstract Expressionist
ceremonies
environment
landscapes

Metadata

Accession Number
1999.001
Campus Location
Raclin Murphy Museum of Art
Access

Not on view, please request access

Metadata

Contact Us

Our collection information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. If you have spotted an error, please contact Raclin Murphy Museum of Art at RMMACollections@nd.edu.


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