Lipscomb’s OPEN Gallery is exploring contemporary art with Chicago-based artist Victoria Martinez’s Secret Garden exhibition.
The student-run gallery is curated by Lipscomb art students Callan Downing and Seth Lykins and displays work from different artists every month.
“It’s run entirely by students,” student and Lipscomb Artist-in-Residence Seth Lykins said. “We’re in charge of finding the artists each month and bringing them down here, and we install and de-install the work.”
This month’s featured artist is 25-year-old Victoria Martinez.
A Pilsen, Chicago native, Martinez was born to Mexican parents and grew up with a strong connection to her heritage.
“My art is influenced by the color of my culture and the make-do attitude of my people,” Martinez said.
A 2010 Minneapolis College of Art and Design graduate, Martinez describes her work as “mixed media ephemeral collages.” Playing around with textures, textiles and patterns, Martinez’s works bring to mind such artists as Frida Kahlo, but in 3D.
“I just collect a lot of random items from the street and when I go for walks, I collect cassettes, pieces of paper or rocks and I bring them to my studio,” Martinez said. “I lay them down on my table and draw them. Or I like to go to thrift stores and collect items with vibrant patterns and colors. I pin them to my walls and collage them to see what I have.”
The finished product is what Martinez refers to as a “soft sculpture.”
“When I was growing up, I was inspired by my neighborhood a lot,” Martinez said. “There were a lot of gang wars, sirens. Now there’s a lot of vibrancy in the culture. I focus on that beauty and on the former establishments that are now abandoned.”
Martinez tends to focus on things that the everyday passerby often overlooks, whether they are deflated balloons, newspaper advertisements or old posters in the grocery store that are falling apart.
“There’s potential in all these items I find,” she said.
Martinez currently teaches art in Pilsen. Although she wants to continue teaching contemporary art, Martinez says she has bigger goals lurking on the horizon.
“Some of my goals are to receive some sort of grant, either a Fulbright grant or a city grant from Chicago, and produce textile work,” Martinez said. “I also want the project to be participatory. I want to combine different schools from Chicago to come together in a public space, like a park or an empty lot, and create a large-scale soft sculpture installation.
“I also want to travel to Mexico or Berlin and teach over there.”
Martinez’s works will be on display at the gallery until December. New works debuts each month at the First Saturday Art Crawl.