Patrick Martinez - Po-lice Misconduct Misprint
- 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 Los Angeles based artist 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 their death. The form of his Pee-Chee pieces have changed immensely from 2005, as the original took the form of a screen print and focused on cops mainly during these events. Since this initial piece, technology has changed drastically with 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 that he distributes to high school and college students, as well as community members and protesters.
Artist Biography:
Patrick Martinez is a Los Angeles-based artist born in 1980 with a diverse practice that includes mixed media landscape paintings, neon sign pieces, cake paintings, and his Pee Chee series of appropriative works. He earned his BFA with honors from Art Center College of Design in 2005. (Still editing)Response:
Sources:
- https://www.orlandoweekly.com/arts/california-artist-patrick-martinez-remixes-everyday-stuff-like-school-supplies-store-neons-and-sheet-cakes-into-artifacts-of-brutality-4706133- https://www.kcet.org/shows/artbound/retro-pee-chee-folders-are-re-envisioned-to-memorialize-victims-of-police-violence?utm_source=facebook&%3Butm_medium=social&%3Butm_campaign=kcet
- https://www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-artist-patrick-martinez-paints-moving-tributes-victims-police-brutality
- https://www.smithsonianmag.com/arts-culture/the-pee-chee-folder-illustrated-by-the-most-interesting-man-in-the-world-43192770/