José Luis Martinat & José Carlos Martinat

Jose Luis Martinat was born in Lima, Peru in 1974 and lives and works between Gothenburg and Lima. The materials José Luis Martinat works with are often film, drawing, photography, writing, and sound. By appropriating, manipulating, and distorting pre-existing materials, it changes the original meaning and generates the possibility of new associations and interpretations. This work process reflects its interest in images as purely artificial creations and how reality is expressed through them.

Recently, the artist has intervened in symbolic materials of Peruvian culture such as canvas and brick. 

Martinat participated in the Sharjah Biennale in 2009 and had various prestigious exhibitions at the Telefonica Foundation and the Museum of Contemporary Art (MAC) in Lima in 2013, at the Malmö Museum in 2008, at the Wysing Art Centre in Cambridge in 2007 and at the Lima Art Museum (MALI) in 2006 and 2008.

In recent years, he has worked on numerous projects with his brother José Carlos Martinat at the Peréz Art Museum in Miami (PAMM) in 2018, the MoMA in New York in 2017, and the TATE Modern in London in 2013.

José Carlos Martinat was born in Lima, Peru, and lives and works in Lima, Peru. Martinat’s work is concerned with the social, cultural, and political contexts of Latin America. His multidisciplinary practice involves painting, sculpture, audio, extraction, and text. 

In his signature work, he explores the ramifications of social inequality engendered by outdated economic models in Latin America. In the months leading up to Peru’s presidential election in 2021 and subsequently, Martinat extracted painted political and protest logos off the walls around the outskirts of Lima to capture pivotal historical moments. Weary of the country’s politics rife with corruption, the populace has taken their frustration to the streets by painting graffiti over political advertisements. Without lobbying for any political group, he seeks to highlight these difficult moments and the frustrations of many Peruvians.

Martinat’s work is in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art (New York); Perez Art Museum (Miami); The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum (New York); Tate Modern (London); Saatchi Collection (London); Museum of Contemporary Art São Paulo (Brazil); Museo de Arte de Lima (Peru); Latin American Art Museum of Buenos Aires (Argentina); among others.

He has shown extensively in international institutions including the Museo de Arte de Zapopan, Mexico (2017); Sao Paolo Art Biennial, Brazil (2009 and 2015); Saatchi Gallery, London, United Kingdom (2014); Tate Modern, London, United Kingdom (2013); Biennale of Visual Arts, Ireland (2012); Noord-Holland Biennale, Netherlands (2012); Museum of Latin American Art, Los Angeles, CA (2012); IX Shanghai Biennale, China (2012); Estação Pinacoteca, Brazil (2011); Museum of Contemporary Art, Miami, FL (2011); Trienal Poligráfica de Puerto Rico, Puerto Rico (2009); Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Vigo, Spain (2007); La Laboral, Spain (2007), among others.