by Kayla Sheldon on 2014-10-01
On Saturday night, Sept. 27, local artist Eric Martinez hosted an art show featuring his first series of paintings. Martinez and his wife Sara, hosted the show at their house with the gallery right in their living room.
Martinez and friends Hector Agremon and Joel O’Neal were instrumental in making the gallery. They built the display for the paintings themselves and gave the living room a complete makeover and built the framework to hang the art up.
Martinez was born and raised in Colton. The house that the art show was held used to be his sister’s house.
“We live among art,” Sara Martinez said while laughing.
There were five pieces of his art on display. However, there were many other pieces from the set that were just too big to be displayed in the room. Martinez selected which paintings he wanted to be displayed that night, and left the others out.
Each piece had a small note on the side with a description that told the story behind each one of the pieces.
Sara briefly explained the process behind Martinez’s work. His paintings never turn out to be what he envisioned from the beginning.
According to Sara, when he would finish a piece, he sometimes wants to keep going, or keep making changes, and ends up destroying the piece entirely.
“If you like the painting, get it because it’ll be completely different the next day,” she said.
The five paintings displayed were titled “Slowkill Trafficjam”, “On With The Show”, “Promised Lands”, “Learn to Swim”, and “The Looking Glass”.
Two out of the five pieces were painted on wood, while the other three were painting on donated sheet metal.
“On With The Show” was a painting about his grandmother. The description read: “The artist comes to terms with his grandmother’s illness and addiction to antidepressants in this nightmare fantasy of psychiatric intervention.”
The artist, Martinez, shared, “For the past three years I have struggled with these five paintings. I will not lie to you and say that any part of this process was easy.”
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Message from the web....
Regarding Colton City News,
Name: Monica Figueroa
Email: figueroamonica@live.com
Phone: 9099187169
Address: 5951 TUCSON COURT, Riverside CA 92504
Message: Hello. I am assisting putting together an Art Show being held in Colton September 27th,2014. I would love to add this to the events calender in the Colton Newspaper and the website. The artist presenting is Eric Martinez. He is a 3rd generation Colton resident and has an amazing and inspiring body of work. The Art show is free and all ages. Please contact me so i can make it happen!The artist is also doing great things in the Colton community. Please contact me @ 909 918-7169. Thank you.
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Hello Helena,
Thank you for your consideration. The event is called Art Show for the People of My City; Featuring the Artwork of Eric Martinez. Saturday, September 27 from 5:00pm - 11:00pm. Located at 744 West 'E' Street Colton, CA 92324. Admission is Free; street parking available. Food and drinks are provided on a first come, first serve basis.
Please feel free to contact either Monica or myself if you need any information.
Thank You,
Sara Martinez
Hi Helena,
In May of this year, the City News Group covered a story on the First Annual Colton Museum Day. My husband, Eric Martinez, was one of the local artists featured at the event, and some photographs of his work were even published on your website.
On September 27, Eric and I are hosting a free, not for profit exhibition, 'An Art Show for the People of My City.' This is a public event featuring select pieces from his collection, "I Am Not Larger Than Life, I Am Not Taller Than Trees.' We are hoping to publicize the event, and were wondering if the City News Group is interested in this story.
I have attached a letter to the City of Colton which serves as an invitation to the community. Is there space in the newspaper for this letter? If you have any questions or concerns, I can be reached at (909) 561-3486. I very much appreciate your time and consideration in this matter.
Thank You,
Sara Martinez