BY STEPHANIE BUHMANN | Enrique Martínez Celaya: ‘Empires: Sea’ and ‘Empires: Land’
Enrique Martínez Celaya’s two-part exhibition aims to create a complex experience that is simultaneously visceral and elusive. Blending reality, fantasy and memory to create a world that is both semi-autobiographical and universally applicable, the artist’s oeuvre spans a large variety of media.
The two installations (“Sea” and “Land”) reflect as much, featuring new paintings, sculptures, needlepoint and poetry. Together, these diverse components inform a dedicated search for authenticity and a sense of belonging, while remaining conscious of the fact that self-knowledge is limited. In this particular exhibition, land serves as a metaphor for what is known, has been discovered, declared, and generally feels familiar.
In contrast, the sea is employed to address the mysterious, great unknown at our fingertips. Though this ambitious project marks his first solo show with Jack Shainman Gallery, Los Angeles-based Martínez Celaya has shown his work extensively, including at the Hood Art Museum and The State Hermitage Museum in Saint Petersburg, Russia.
Through Oct. 24 at Jack Shainman Gallery. “Empires: Sea” is at 513 W. 20th St. “Empires: Land” is at 524 W. 24th St. (both locations, btw. 10th & 11th Aves.). Hours: Tues.–Sat., 10 a.m.–6 p.m. Call 212-645-1701. Visit jackshainman.com.
