Maybe there’s something in the water. Or the Del Taco on the corner. Whatever it is, it’s been a good week for Colton alumni. First, we hear that class of ’99 alum Cory Butner is being beamed into our living rooms every right from faraway Sochi, Russia, as a member of the USA Bobsled team in the Winter Olympics. Now, it’s the artists’ turn.
On February 13th, Colton alumni of graduating class 2005 and local professional artist, Eric Martinez visited Colton High School. He brought many samples of his artwork that were put on display in Colton art teacher, Patricia Hughes’ classroom. He also gave a presentation and took questions in Hughes’ class for all of her students. Martinez studied in the art program at California State University Fullerton, and highly recommends the school to any aspiring artists. He also claims that music is what inspired him the most to be an artist and he believes, “art is the single most valuable thing today. Period.”
Martinez’s style of art is very distinctive and interesting; he frequently uses the same characters and the repetition of words in his artwork. He claims that “text is a tricky thing to add to artwork if you want to be taken seriously,” this is due to the fact that people are very drawn to text instinctively as it seems like the easy way to communicate the point the piece of artwork is attempting to make. Because of this, he usually makes the text as a whole difficult to read to use the words for their true purpose, “I use text as a trigger to draw someone in, once they have their eyes on the piece my job is already done.” “What artists want is to get a response out of you.”
Martinez is a very strong believer that “all art has something to say,” “every piece has a question.” He believes art is a visual medium attempting to relate and speak to the viewer, “there is a message in all art.” Art is a very visual method of communication, so hence his lack of wanting to rely on text to make his point.
Martinez’s artwork is very inspired by his personal life. “All the paintings I do are very specific to events in my life with meaning,” stated Martinez. One particular painting was of his recurring character that has a striking resemblance to himself, wearing a rag doll costume, holding a bottle of liquor with the phrase “I don’t want this disease” written over and over in the background. As personal as his artwork was, he was incredibly open to talk about all of these moments in life, for example the aforementioned painting was about his struggle with alcoholism. He identifies himself as a ragdoll in the painting because he sees himself as someone who takes a lot from people and as a “very gentle & caring, passive person.”
Martinez’s wife Sarah also joined him at the presentation. She graduated from the LA film school in 2007, minored in cinematography, and majored in editing. Even through the tough times of the 2008 writer’s strike, she still managed to make a career out of what she loved to do. She says she’s even worked on a movie together with her husband.
They both feel the presence of art in the Inland Empire is severely lacking and the local youth is not as exposed to art as they should be. To help the cause of exposing the youth to the arts, Martinez and his wife are active participants with the MAD (Make A Difference) charity, which seeks to tackle the widespread issues of poverty, education, and health, around the globe.
