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Patrick Martinez - Po-lice Misconduct Misprint



Victims Included in Series:
- Laquan McDonald
- Oscar Grant III
- Walter Scott 
- Eric Garner
- Jonathan Santellana
- Alexandra Svoboda


About the Works:


This series of works, Po-lice Misconduct Misprints, are a part of long term series of works from Patrick Martinez. Since 2005, Martinez has been depicting instances of violence and death at the hands of the police in his work. These works often utilize the familiar color schemes and art of Pee-Chee folders that were popular in the United States for many decades. His work follows in a long tradition of owners of Pee-Chee folders doodling on them, either altering the text found on the cover or changing the looks of the different athletes. Instead of including the usual images of athletes, Martinez instead depicts different scenes of police on the scene of these tragedies, the actual incidents, or images shown along reports about deaths. The form of his Pee-Chee pieces have changed immensely from 2005 as technology has changed drastically and affected how police brutality is covered and shared. With increased access to the Internet and better quality cameras with smartphones, more people are able to see first person accounts of these events with them being uploaded to different social media sites. With the amount of violence that happens at the hands of the police and the way these events are documented, there are always references for him to use for his art, which is an issue. When looking at his work, Martinez does not see them as political in nature, and instead sees them as “time-stamping” events and presenting them in a creative way. He uses this work to also preserve the memory of those lives who were cut short and have their story be acknowledged since victims do not always get acknowledged or honored.


When looking at the use of the iconic imagery of the Pee-Chee folders, Martinez remembers using them in grade school and feeling alienated. The imagery of All-American scenes of student athletes reminded him of expected behavior and ideas of norms that are always expected to be followed. Much of this practice is informed by his upbringing and growing up. He remembers cops always being present at his school and his brother’s friends being arrested and harassed by the cops, as well as carrying around Pee-Chee folders, so when it came to this group of work, he wanted to combine the idealized American scenes of high school with scenes of police brutality and police misconduct. 

In addition to making these works, Martinez also makes folder-style prints, similar to the ones on display, that he distributes to high school and college students, as well as community members and protesters. 



About the Artist:



Patrick Martinez is a Los Angeles-based artist with a diverse practice that includes mixed media landscape paintings, neon sign pieces, cake paintings, and his Pee-Chee series of appropriative works. Martinez's L.A. suburban upbringing and his diverse cultural background (Filipino, Mexican, and Native American), provided him with a unique lens through which he interprets his surroundings. He also has been influenced by the Hip Hop movement, where he cultivated his art practice through graffiti, which later led him to the Art Center College of Design, where he earned his BFA with honors in 2005. Throughout his work, Martinez colorfully scrutinizes otherwise everyday realities of suburban and urban life in L.A. with humor, sensitivity and wit.
 

Personal Response:

This series of works utilizes the familiar imagery of Pee-Chee folders with an important twist. When looking at these pieces, one can notice all of the different marks and strokes that make up each figure throughout the pieces. Martinez's choice to depict art of those that are victims of police violence is an important one as it highlights stories that do no always get recognized in the media or might often be overlooked. The topic of police violence is a dividing topic to discuss, especially in the United States, as seen in 2020 primarily with the rise in protests around the world in response to murders of people like Breonna Taylor and George Floyd and peoples response to this widespread outrage. Although many people would rather look away from tragedies at the hands of the police out of a desire for comfort, they are important to pay attention to and acknowledge in order to spark change in how police treat people and abuse their authority. With the placement of this series of works in front of the George H.W. Bush Conference Center in an active hallway that many different people pass through, they serve as an important reminder of the injustices that still take place in this country. The way that the pieces are installed also make them hard to ignore since they take up a majority of the wall that is visible in passing with their combined height. These are important pieces for anyone to see, and the use of the familiar imagery, color scheme, and size of the Pee-Chee folders are important aspects as they may draw in people that might not notice the message behind them at first, but encourage them to spend time with the piece and acknowledge these tragic instances. 

When looking at these pieces, it is impactful to take in all of the motion captured in the different brushstrokes of the original pieces as they present the chaos and emotions that would have taken place in these tragedies. So much is said with just a few stills from these moments and one can understand part of these individuals' stories while viewing each piece. This series is an important way to display these instances as they are able to tell these stories without words and connect different instances that have taken place in different places together through a long history of these occurrences happening at the hands of the police. Martinez is successful in his ability to utilize an object that people are familiar with to draw in his audience and then present them with vital information in a creative and engaging way.
 

"With these works my intention is to cement these people within the context of my art at the same time memorializing them. In America’s history, only presidents and “important” people would have portraits painted of them, scenes cast as bronze sculpture or statues etc. They won’t do that for George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and Ahmaud Arbery so I want to do it myself so that these happenings and people are not forgotten.”

 

Located in Roosevelt Hall (1 University Drive), Floor 1, 101 Dean's Suite

 
Sources:
- Artist Patrick Martinez remixes everyday stuff like school supplies, store neons and sheet cakes into artifacts of brutality
- Retro ‘Pee-Chee’ Folders are Re-envisioned to Memorialize Victims of Police Violence
- Artist Patrick Martinez Paints Moving Tributes to Victims of Police Brutality
- The Pee-Chee Folder: Illustrated by the Most Interesting Man in the World
- Racism Doesn’t Rest During a Pandemic Pee Chee (No Justice No Peace), 2020
- Rollins Museum of Art: Patrick Martinez
- Patrick Martinez Biography

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