Enrique Martinez Celaya

Patricia Low Contemporary is delighted to announce the representation of Los Angeles-based artist, author and former physicist Enrique Martínez Celaya (born in 1964). In summer 2024, Martínez Celaya will have his first solo show with the gallery, presenting a new body of work at Patricia Low Venezia, opening June 15th, to coincide with the 60th Venice Biennale Strangers Everywhere. In April 2024, Martínez Celaya will stage The Word-Shimmering Sea at the Hispanic Society Museum & Library in New York, an immersive interaction with Diego Velázquez‘s painting Portrait of a Little Girl (ca. 1638–42).

The Cuban-born artist and polymath’s works explore timely, timeless subjects of exile and belonging in oneiric visions of figures and landscapes. Maps, scraps of text, and wraithlike creatures variously feature in his paintings, which call to mind mental as much as physical landscapes. Recent works have focused on the sea, with outsize flowers floating in the foreground. Evocative of a childhood memory, in which a floral scent, believed to be an omen, would sometimes permeate the beach town in Cuba where Martínez Celaya‘s grandparents lived, these paintings have a charged symbolism, and a sense of longing, that suffuses all of the artist’s work. 

Martínez Celaya‘s work has been exhibited and collected by major institutions worldwide. He is Provost Professor of Humanities and Arts at the University of Southern California, and a Montgomery Fellow at Dartmouth College. Notable projects and exhibitions include the State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, The Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C., the Museo Marino Marini, Florence, the Berliner Philharmonie, Berlin, the Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes, Havana, and the Museum der bildenden Künste Leipzig, among many others. His work is held in 57 public collections internationally, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Whitney Museum of American Art, the Moderna Museet in Stockholm, and The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.

Past exhibitions

Biography

ACADEMIC APPOINTMENTS

  • Provost Professor of Humanities and Arts, University of Southern California, 2017–present
  • Montgomery Fellow, Dartmouth College, 2014–present
  • Roth Distinguished Visiting Scholar, Dartmouth College, 2016–2017
  • Visiting Presidential Professor, University of Nebraska, 2007–2010
  • Associate Professor, Pomona College, 1994-2003
  • Associate Professor, Claremont Graduate University, 1994-2003

EDUCATION

  • MFA, with distinction, University of California, Santa Barbara, 1994
  • Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, 1994
  • MS, University of California, Berkeley, 1988
  • BS, Cornell University, 1986

SOLO EXHIBITIONS (Selection)

2024
  • Los muertos llaman al alba, Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes de La Habana, Havana, Cuba
  • The Word-Shimmering Sea, Diego Velázquez | Enrique Martínez Celaya, Hispanic Society Museum & Library, New York, USA
  • Enrique Martínez Celaya, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, USA
2023
  • Guardare e aspettare: Enrique Martínez Celaya sculture selezionate 2005–2023, Museo Marino Marini, Florence, Italy
  • The Sea Memory (Lost), Secci, Florence, Italy
  • The Sea Memory (Found), Miles McEnery Gallery, New York, USA
2022
  • SEA SKY LAND: towards a map of everything, Fisher Museum of Art, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, USA
  • The Fire of Heaven: Enrique Martínez Celaya and Robinson Jeffers, Monterey Museum of Art, Monterey, USA
  • The Rose Garden, UTA Artist Space, Los Angeles, USA
  • The Foreigner’s Song, Miles McEnery Gallery, New York, USA
  • The Fire of Heaven: Enrique Martínez Celaya and Robinson Jeffers, Edward L. Doheny Jr. Memorial Library, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, USA
2021
  • There-bound, The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens, San Marino, USA
  • Enrique Martínez Celaya and Käthe Kollwitz: Von den ersten und den letzten Dingen, Galerie Judin, Berlin, Germany
  • A Third of the Night, Baldwin Gallery, Aspen, USA
  • Un poema a Madrid, Galería Casado Santapau, Madrid, Spain
2019
  • The Mariner’s Meadow, Blain|Southern, London, United Kingdom
  • Detrás del Muro, 13th Havana Biennial, Havana, Cuba
  • The Tears of Things, Kohn Gallery, Los Angeles, USA
2018
  • The Other Life, Galleri Andersson/Sandström, Stockholm, Sweden
2017
  • The Gypsy Camp, Jack Shainman Gallery, New York, USA
  • The Mirroring Land, Galerie Judin, Berlin, Germany
  • Nothing That Is Ours, Fredric Snitzer Gallery, Miami, USA
2016
  • One-on-One: Enrique Martínez Celaya/Albert Pinkham Ryder, The Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C., USA
  • Small Paintings: 1974-2015, Abroms-Engel Institute for the Visual Arts, Birmingham, USA
  • Self and Sea, Parafin, London, United Kingdom
  • Self and Land, Baldwin Gallery, Aspen, USA
2015
  • Empires: Land and Empires: Sea, Jack Shainman Gallery, New York, USA
  • Lonestar, L.A. Louver, Venice, USA
2014
  • Burning as It Were a Lamp, Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, USA
  • A Wasted Journey, A Half-finished Blaze, Galleri Andersson/Sandström, Umeå, Sweden
  • The Seaman’s Crop, Parafin, London, United Kingdom
2013
  • The Tower of Snow, Strandverket Konsthall, Marstrand, Sweden
  • The Pearl, SITE Santa Fe, Santa Fe, USA
  • Burning as It Were a Lamp, Fredric Snitzer Gallery, Miami, USA
2012
  • The Tower of Snow, The State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia
  • The Hunt’s Will, L.A. Louver, Venice, USA
  • Roadhome, Galleri Andersson/Sandström, Stockholm, Sweden
  • El cielo de invierno, Galería Joan Prats, Barcelona, Spain
2011
  • Schneebett, Miami Art Museum, Miami, USA
  • Wormwood, L.A. Louver Gallery, Venice, USA
  • The Cliff, Liverpool Street Gallery, Sydney, Australia
2010
  • The Open, Simon Lee Gallery, London, United Kingdom
  • The Crossing, Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine, New York, USA
  • The Palace, Baldwin Gallery, Aspen, USA
2009
  • An Empty Space, Akira Ikeda Gallery, New York, USA
  • Down With Me, Sara Meltzer Gallery, New York, USA
  • An Unfinished Conversation: Collecting Enrique Martínez Celaya, Boca Raton Museum of Art, Boca Raton, USA
2008
  • Daybreak, L.A. Louver, Venice, USA
  • The Lovely Season, Liverpool Street Gallery, Sydney, Australia
2007
  • Nomad, Miami Art Museum, Miami, USA
  • Six Paintings on the Duration of Exile, Akira Ikeda Gallery, Taura, Japan
  • For two Martinson poems, poorly understood, John Berggruen Gallery, San Francisco, USA
  • Awaiting a second plan, Sara Meltzer Gallery, New York, USA
2006
  • Schneebett, Museum der bildenden Künste Leipzig, Leipzig, Germany
  • Coming Home, Sheldon Museum of Art, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, USA
2005
  • Works on Paper, Oakland Museum of California, Oakland, USA
  • The Photographs, Brauer Museum of Art, Enrique Martínez Celaya, Valparaiso, USA
  • Shore: “Is today yesterday?” (Part I), Akira Ikeda Gallery, Berlin, Germany
  • Shore: “Is today yesterday?” (Part II), Griffin Contemporary, Santa Monica, USA
2004
  • Schneebett, Berliner Philharmonie, Berlin, Germany
  • Poetry in Process, Colorado University Art Museum, Boulder, USA
  • The October Cycle, Museum of Art Fort Lauderdale, Fort Lauderdale, USA
2003
  • Recent Paintings, John Berggruen Gallery, San Francisco, USA
  • The October Cycle, Sheldon Museum of Art, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, Lincoln, USA
2002
  • Enrique Martínez Celaya: 1992-2000, Massachusetts College of Art, Boston, USA
  • Enrique Martínez Celaya, Griffin, Santa Monica, USA
  • Enrique Martínez Celaya, Danese Gallery, New York, USA
2001
  • Enrique Martínez Celaya: 1992-2000, The Contemporary Museum, Honolulu, Honolulu, USA
  • Enrique Martínez Celaya: 1992-2000, The Orange County Museum of Art, Newport Beach, USA
  • Enrique Martínez Celaya, Von der Heydt-Museum, Wuppertal, Germany
2000
  • Coming Home, Griffin, Venice, USA
  • Paintings of Mercy, Rena Bransten Gallery, San Francisco, USA
  • Pinturas de merced, Galería Ramis Barquet, Monterrey, Mexico
1999
  • The Field, Andrew Mummery Gallery (at St. Pancras Chambers), London, United Kingdom
1998
  • Recent Works, Galerie Bäumler, Regensburg, Germany
  • Enrique Martínez Celaya, Luigi Marrozzini Gallery, San Juan, Puerto Rico
  • Enrique Martínez Celaya, Griffin, Venice, USA
  • New Work, Baldwin Gallery, Aspen, USA
1997
  • Redemption, Burnett Miller Gallery, Santa Monica, USA
1996
  • Recent Work, Bronx Museum of the Arts, Bronx, USA
1995
  • Lions of Frosting, Dorothy Goldeen Gallery, Santa Monica, USA

SELECTED COLLECTIONS

  • Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, New York
  • The State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia
  • Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, New York
  • Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, California
  • The Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C.
  • Moderna Museet, Stockholm, Sweden
  • The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas
  • Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, California
  • The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens, San Marino, California
  • Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art, Hartford, Connecticut
  • Museo Nacional de Bellas Artes de La Habana, Havana, Cuba
  • Pérez Art Museum Miami, Florida
  • Columbus Museum of Art, Columbus, Ohio
  • Tucson Museum of Art, Tucson, Arizona
  • Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire
  • Museum der bildenden Künste Leipzig, Germany
  • Denver Art Museum, Denver, Colorado
  • Portland Art Museum, Portland, Oregon
  • Strandverket Konsthall, Marstrand, Sweden
  • Crocker Art Museum, Sacramento, California
  • Wende Museum, Culver City, California
  • Robinson Jeffers Tor House Foundation, Carmel-by-the-sea, California
  • Fisher Museum of Art, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California
  • Oakland Museum of California, Oakland, California
  • Palm Springs Art Museum, Palm Springs, California
  • Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, California
  • The Patricia & Phillip Frost Art Museum, Miami, Florida
  • Achenbach Foundation for Graphic Arts, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, California
  • Mildred Lane Kemper Art Museum, Washington University, St. Louis, Missouri
  • NSU Art Museum Fort Lauderdale, Florida
  • Sheldon Museum of Art, Lincoln, Nebraska
  • Dartmouth College, Hanover, New Hampshire
  • Joan Flasch Artists’ Book Collection, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois
  • North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, North Carolina
  • Nerman Museum of Contemporary Art, Overland Park, Kansas
  • Museum of Art Fort Lauderdale, Florida
  • National Hispanic Cultural Center, Albuquerque, New Mexico
  • Weatherspoon Art Museum, Greensboro, North Carolina
  • The Colorado Collection, Boulder, Colorado
  • Frederick R. Weisman Art Museum, Minneapolis, Minnesota
  • University of New Mexico Art Museum, Albuquerque, New Mexico
  • Jule Collins Smith Museum of Fine Art, Auburn University, Auburn, Alabama
  • Henry Art Gallery, University of Washington, Seattle, Washington
  • Honolulu Museum of Art Spalding House, Honolulu, Hawaii
  • Neues Stadtmuseum der Stadt Landsberg/Lech, Germany
  • Figge Art Museum, Davenport, Iowa
  • Boca Raton Museum of Art, Boca Raton, Florida
  • The Bronx Museum of the Arts, Bronx, New York
  • Monterey Museum of Art, Monterey, California
  • Museum of Nebraska Art, Kearney, Nebraska
  • Pomona College Museum of Art, Claremont, California
  • Brauer Museum of Art, Valparaiso, Indiana
  • Anderson Ranch Arts Center, Snowmass Village, Colorado
  • US Bank, Minneapolis, Minnesota
  • Charles E. Young Research Library Special Collections, University of California, Los Angeles, California
  • The Graduate Center of the City University of New York, New York
  • Edward L. Doheny Jr. Memorial Library, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, California
  • Arkansas Art Center, Little Rock, Arkansas

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