Juan Martinez was born in Andalusia in 1942. After training as an architect in Barcelona, he moved to Switzerland where he settled permanently. In 1966, he graduated from the Cantonal School of Fine Arts in Lausanne. From then on he devoted himself entirely to painting.
With the penetrating eye of his characters, he scrutinizes you from his first canvas. Strong signs are expressed by a powerful line on a dense and vibrant background. The painting takes place on a foreground without depth, without perspective, there is no hierarchy between form and figure, nor between color and form. A committed painting in which the representation of the individual alone or linked to his peers calls into question his status in society. clean according to codes
“I want to poetize the image. I am sensitive to the horrible images that we are shown, but I do not think that we educate people with this approach. On the contrary, we put them to sleep. To be effective, I remove the immediate side of the tragedy, I move away a little bit to better understand it. The simplification of the image takes it away from horror. It allows you to think about it. ”
“Whether my painting provokes dreams or nightmares, it doesn’t matter as long as the viewer moves! ”
His works can be found in numerous public and private collections.