Artist Statement / Declaración del Artista
Using textiles, photography, video, sculpture, and printmaking, I create artwork that is often autobiographical and critical of the violence and injustice of immigration and manual labor. Within my work, I create portals inspired by architectural elements that summon the shared experiences of immigrant Latino and Chicano cultures. I record lived domestic spaces to arrange nostalgic digital montages and collages that reinterpret and project my memories of growing up in Mexico. Influenced by rasquache attitudes that have prevailed through my frugal upbringing, I repurpose found materials and tools to create sculptures and installations that materialize the struggles of manual labor and worker exploitation. I appropriate legal documents and national symbols and employ the imagery of borders to criticize Western propaganda, oppression, imperialism, colonization, and interventionism. I utilize my multimedia practice as a medium of introspection and understanding of the world around me, so my work ultimately seeks to become a catalyst for self-reflection and community.
Por medio de los textiles, la fotografía, el video, la escultura, y el grabado, creo arte que a menudo es autobiográfico y crítico de la violencia y la injusticia de la inmigración y la labor manual. Dentro de mi trabajo, creo portales inspirados por elementos de la arquitectura que convocan las experiencias compartidas de las culturas de los inmigrantes Latinos y Chicanos. Grabo espacios domésticos para organizar montajes digitales y collages nostálgicos que reinterpretan y proyectan mis memorias de crecer en México. Influenciado por actitudes rasquaches que han prevalecido a lo largo de mi crianza frugal, reutilizo materiales y herramientas encontradas para crear esculturas e instalaciones que materializan las luchas de la labor manual y la explotación del trabajador. Apropio documentos legals y símbolos nacionales y empleo imagenes de las fronteras para criticar la propaganda, la opresión, el imperialismo, la colonización, y el intervencionismo llevado a cabo por el poder occidental. Utilizo mi práctica multimedia como medio de introspección y entendimiento del mundo que me rodea, por lo que mi trabajo busca convertirse en un catalizador para la autorreflexión y la comunidad.
Contact / Contacto
julio.martinez@utexas.edu
EDUCATION
2024 BFA, The University of Texas at Austin, Studio Art
2024 BS, The University of Texas at Austin, Arts and Entertainment Technologies
2020 AA, South Texas College, Interdisciplinary Studies, McAllen TX
GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2024 Bodyscapes, Greenhouse, Austin TX
2024 Sincerely, Everything, BFA Senior Exhibition, Visual Arts Center, Austin TX
2024 La Silueta, UT Austin
2024 Soon Moon, Visual Arts Center, Austin TX
2024 Ensemble, Visual Arts Center, Austin TX
2024 Leap Day Show, Museum of Human Achievement, Austin TX
2024 Somos Recuerdos, Visual Arts Center, Austin TX
2023 A Book Never Ends It Just Stops Moving, UT Austin
2023 Superstitions, UT Austin
2023 Where We Meet in the Middle, Visual Arts Center, Austin TX
2023 Chatter at the Campo, Visual Arts Center, Austin TX
2023 Full Bleed, UT Austin
2023 Spring Concert Art Show, UT Austin
2023 Research Week Exhibition, UT Austin
2022 Bake Sale, Art Pop Up, Austin TX
2022 El Otro Lado, Open Call Contributor, Visual Arts Center, Austin TX
2022 Halls and Walls, UT Austin, Austin TX
TALKS
2024 Curator Talk, Artist Run Club, Visual Arts Center, Austin TX
2024 Curator Talk, Center Space Project, Visual Arts Center, Austin TX
2024 Curator Talk, Mexic-Arte Museum, Visual Arts Center, Austin TX
AWARDS
2023 Hispanic Scholarship Fund Scholar
2023 Maline Gilbert McCalla Scholarship
2023 Betty George Cotten Memorial/Flying Longhorns Scholarship
2023 Texas Exes: Wheeler Foundation Study Abroad Scholarship
2020 University Leadership Network Scholarship
CURATORIAL PROJECTS
2024 Co-curator, Somos Recuerdos, Visual Arts Center, Austin TX
2023 Co-curator, Superstitions, UT Austin
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Joey Clark, “‘Somos Recuerdos’ student-led exhibit explores Latinx identities, history” Daily Texan, January 22, 2024.