Born in Santiago, Chili, Sergio Martinez grows up to be a cheeky dreamer, wild plans are brewing in his mind. At an early age he sets out to teach himself how to paint landscapes and he continues to be amazed and inspired by the world around him.
The buzzing sound of a crowded street in the summer, blueberries and plums and the sensation of dancing the night away will never end. 20 year old Martinez keeps finding happiness and inspiration in the smallest of things. The grandeur of life, however, lays beyond Santiago…
As Sergio moves from his native Chili to Madrid in 2003, he also shifted his artistic preferences from still lives to nudes and portraits. Although he had been studying the human form since the 1990s, his passion for fascinating figures and sensual scenarios grows evermore while living in vivid Madrid.
The world of dance, acrobatics and cabaret opens up before his eyes like a red carnation blossoming in the spring. With these titillating subjects always on the back of his mind, Sergio remains curious and motivated for all adventures yet to come.
Let us take you to Sergio’s studio and allow the sweet smell of turpentine and linseed oil to fill your senses. Feel the colors, deep as the darkest night or bright as a freshly bottled ray of sunshine and let them enter your bloodstream. Reach out your hand to touch the meticulously prepared linen canvasses. Close your eyes and try to feel this.
Do this, and you will discover what Sergio experiences every single day as soon as he sets foot in his studio. His fascination for the human psyche and the wonders of the human body becomes more and more prevalent in his works.
Sergio’s artwork also evolves from an interesting contrast between meticulous planning and an amazingly spontaneous artistic intuition, which he off-handedly explains as “I plan just enough to be creative.”.
Friends with models and dancers alike, he knows how to capture personality and to dive deeper into the personality of these characters. Sergio uses his expertise in combination with his buoyant imagination to construct the perfect setting and atmosphere. His surroundings transform wonderfully into this newly created world, and everybody involved gets drenched in the psychological and visual aspects of the story that is being told.
Since 2016, the world of dance and acrobats have become a favorite setting for his works. “Ballerinas and dancers take comfort in each other, confide in each other, wait for auditions, peek at the audience from behind the curtains and they apply make-up,” comments Sergio. “Whatever you have to say, whether simple or complicated, it is transformed into beauty when it is said by the gestures or movements of these magical performers”.
Sergio Martinez is currently an IBEX Master with several certified Masterpieces owned and curated by the IBEX collection.