Artist Bio + CV

     Alejandra Martinez, 44WATERLILIES, is a Mexican-American artist from the Rio Grande Valley. Martinez was born in Mission, Texas in 1997 and received her BFA in Art from the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley in May 2021. Martínez creates artworks that narrate her experiences within queer expression through clown makeup, suicide ideation, apophenia, and introspection. 
    Creating analog collages from fashion magazines set the foundation in technique for Martinez's work.  The process of finding, rearranging and seeking similarities within images and ideas became the framework of her art practice. Throughout her time in the university, she began to explore her fascination with mysticism, surrealism, symbolism, allegories, and wordplay within her paintings and drawings. Her work is characterized by her use of repetitive motifs such as painting easels, beetles, citruses, water lilies, clowns, and carousels.

     Her self-portraits feature clown makeup or as referred by the artist, "Payasin makeup". "Payasin" can be interpreted interchangeably as her distinct clown makeup and self-insert character. It alludes to the word in spanish for clown,"Payaso", but as a diminutive. Martinez currently attends local markets and events around the Rio Grande Valley where she sells her artwork and handmade items. She currently resides in Palmview, Texas. 

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Education: 

 

2021   BA, Fine Art, University of Texas Rio Grande Valley, Edinburg, TX

 

Solo Exhibitions:

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2024 Hidden In Plain Sight, Paper Caper Co., South Padre Island, TX

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2021 Absurdity and Monotony, Carla Hughes Art Gallery, Harlingen, TX

 

Two Person/ Group Exhibitions: 

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2024     4th Annual IMAS Members’ Juried Art Show, International Museum of Art and Science,

              McAllen, TX

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2024     Brick by Brick, Brownsville Museum of Fine Art, Brownsville, TX​

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2024     Where Seeds Bloom, Presa House Gallery, San Antonio, TX​

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2024     Where Seeds Bloom, FLOWER SHOP Art Studio & Residency, Brownsville, TX​

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2023     3rd Annual MAS Members’ Juried Art Show, International Museum of Art and Science,

             McAllen, TX

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2023     Loose Threads, Paper Caper Co Gallery, South Padre Island, TX

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2023     MUJER-ERES Exhibition, Brownsville Museum of Fine Art, Brownsville, TX

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2023     Por Siempre: A Love Exhibition, Produce Gallery, Corpus Christi, TX

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2022     2nd Annual IMAS Members’ Juried Art Show, International Museum of Art and Science,                     McAllen, TX

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2022     For the Love of Cats, La Chicharra Studio, Brownsville, TX 

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2022     Daydreams and Allegories, Bohemian Place, McAllen, TX

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2022     MUJER-ERES Exhibition, La Chicharra Studio, Brownsville, TX 

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2021     Castilian Roses in December, San Benito Cultural Heritage Museum, San Benito, TX

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2021     A Gathering of Creatives, Comminos Studio, Harlingen, TX

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2020    Rising Eyes of Texas, Rockport Center for the Arts, Rockport, TX

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