Eddie Martinez
Buflies

Celebrated for his bright, bold, and colorful paintings, Eddie Martinez will present a new body of work made specifically for the Parrish. Taking full advantage of the Museum’s expansive space and high ceilings, Martinez is creating seven 12-foot tall Bufly paintings. Like much of his work, these canvases are imbued with a personal iconography. The artist started the Bufly series in 2021 when his son Arthur who was two at the time became fascinated with butterflies, mispronouncing them as “buflies.” Martinez has been painting them ever since.

Typically beginning with black paint to create an outline, Martinez then layers paint to bring each Bufly to life, injecting an abundance of texture and color to his canvases. Each painting reflects the joy and brightness that pervades Martinez’s practice, and is made surprisingly intimate by the artist, where viewers are reminded of the physical demands of such large-scale works, with some of the canvases even featuring traces of the artist’s shoeprint.

Martinez is best known for his large-scale wall works incorporating figuration and abstraction, painting and drawing, which foreground his signature muscular brushwork. The artist frequently places his forms and figures against monochrome backgrounds that serve to delineate and emphasize his urgent strokes. His paintings incorporate bold contours through the combination of mediums such as oil, enamel, and spray paint, and often include collaged found objects.

Eddie Martinez: Buflies is organized by Corinne Erni, Lewis B. and Dorothy Cullman Chief Curator, Art and Education and Deputy Director of Curatorial Affairs, with additional support from Kaitlin Halloran, Assistant Curator and Publications Coordinator.

Exhibition Support
Eddie Martinez: Buflies is made possible, in part, thanks to the generous support of The Evelyn Toll Family Foundation, Yanina and Allan Spivack, and a donor who wishes to remain Anonymous.

The Parrish Art Museum’s programs are made possible, in part, by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Kathy Hochul and the New York State Legislature, and by the property taxpayers from the Southampton School District and the Tuckahoe Common School District.

About Eddie Martinez

Eddie Martinez (b. 1977, Groton Naval Base, Connecticut) is an American painter and sculptor who lives and works in Brooklyn, NY.

Martinez has shown his work in galleries and museums around the world including solo exhibitions at The Drawing Center in New York, the Davis Museum at Wellesley College, The Bronx Museum, the Yuz Museum in Shanghai, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Detroit, and most recently Space K in Seoul. His work is included in the permanent collections of institutions such as Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum, Carnegie Museum of Art, National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC, the Hirshhorn Museum, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Museo Nacional Reina Sofía, Yuz Museum and The Morgan Library in New York City.