ENRIQUE MARTÍNEZ CELAYA



Born in 1964
Lives and works in Delray Beach 

EDUCATION


Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture, Skowhegan, Maine; 1994
M.F.A., Painting and Sculpture, University of California, Santa Barbara, California; 1994
M.S., Quantum Electronics, University of California, Berkeley, California; 1989
B.S., Applied Physics, Electrical Engineering, Cornell University, Ithaca, New York; 1986

SELECTED AWARDS


Anderson Ranch Arts Center 2007 National Artist Award, 2006
California Community Foundation Fellowship, J. Paul Getty Trust Fund for the Visual Arts, 2004
Inaugural Colorado Contemporary Arts Collaborative Artist Residency at the CU Art Museum
sponsored by Kent and Vicki Logan, 2004
Hirsch Grant, 2001
Art Here and Now Award, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, 1998
Regents Fellow, University of California, 1992-1994
Interdisciplinary Humanities Fellow, University of California, 1992
Brookhaven National Laboratory Fellowship, 1986-1988
 

FACULTY POSITIONS AND TEACHING


Visiting Presidential Professor, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, Nebraska, 2007–Present;
Faculty, Painting and Meaning, workshop, Anderson Ranch Arts Center, Snowmass Village, Colorado,
2007–Present; Associate Professor, Pomona College and Claremont Graduate University, 1994-2003;
Distinguished Visiting Faculty, University of Hawai'i at Mānoa, Honolulu, Hawaii, 2001.
 

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS AND LECTURES


Systems, Time and Daybreak. Presidential Professor Lecture, KANEKO, University of Nebraska,Omaha, 2008;
Art and Museums. Presidential Professor Lecture, Sheldon Museum of Art, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, 2008;
Photography as Grief. Presidential Professor Lecture, Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, 2007;
The Parting of the Exemplary Museum. works + conversations, Number 15: November, 2007: 34-35, 45;
Conformar un lenguaje. In Como Aprendí Inglés. Washington D.C.: National Geographic Society, 2007;
Now What? Journal of Aesthetic Education, 41:12, University of Illinois Press: 17-21;
Artists on Art: From Any Angle. Logan Lectures, Denver Art Museum, Denver, Colorado, 2007;
A Personal Note on Art and Compassion. works + conversations, Number 14: May, 2007: 24-25;
Photography as Grief. Artist Lecture Series, Photo Miami, Miami, Florida, 2006;
Introduction to the Projects, notes on included work. In Martínez Celaya. Early Work. Delray Beach, Florida: Whale and Star, 2006;
 

SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2011 The Cliff, Liverpool Street Gallery, Sydney, Australia
2010 The Open, Simon Lee Gallery, London, UK.
Selected Works/Obra Selecta 1992-2000, Gary Nader Fine Art, Miami, Florida.
2009 The Missing Peace : Artists Consider The Dalai Lama, Fundacion Canal, Madrid
2008 Daybreak, LA Louver Gallery, Los Angeles, California.

Abstract: An exhibition of painting, sculpture and works on paper which explores a simultaneous trust in the a resonance of representation—trees, landscapes, figures—and mistrust in the painting to be anything but futile markings, records of passage, undermined by a history of suspicion towards the authenticity of most artistic gestures.

Original Drawings for Guide, Sara Meltzer Gallery, New York, New York.

Abstract: An exhibition a single artwork consisting of twelve pieces – eleven ink drawings and a handcrafted envelope. Created while working on the text for the book Guide, some of the pieces are based on photographs and others on direct observation. The goal in either case was to blur the line between the invented landscape of Guide and the real landscape of California; between fact and fiction.

The Lovely Season, Liverpool Street Gallery, Sydney, Australia.

Abstract: An exhibition of paintings, sculptures and works on paper surveying two years of work. Central to this body of work is the notion of “season,” a duration of time having particular influences and consequences.
Publication: The Lovely Season: 2008. Liverpool Street Gallery, Sydney, Australia. Text by Enrique Martínez Celaya. 63 pages. 29 illustrations. Softcover.

Moving Towards a Balanced Earth: Kick the Carbon Habit, Natural World Museum in partnership with the United Nations Environment Programme, San Francisco, California. Traveling through New Zealand, Latin America, North America,Asia, and Europe.

Abstract: A painting commissioned-project asking artists to consider the connection between Earth's imbalance and ours: Light and Iceberg, oil and wax on canvas, addresses the loss of a holistic understanding of the world caused by a separation of moral, scientific, and aesthetic realms. This idea is reflected in the artwork by the tension between sky, iceberg, and sea.
2007 Nomad, Miami Art Museum, Miami, Florida.
Abstract: A group of five large-scale, oil-and-wax paintings which explore issues of exile and rootlessness. The paintings evoke the dream-like state of suspension in which the exile lives: time passes and yet nothing changes.

Publication: Nomad: 2007. Miami Art Museum in collaboration with Whale and Star, Delray Beach, Florida. 128 pages. Full color. Hardcover.
For Two Martinson Poems, Poorly Understood, John Berggruen Gallery, San Francisco, California.
Abstract: An exhibition of painting, sculpture, work on paper, and photography that, using the landscape as metaphor, takes on concerns of fate and isolation.

Another Show for the Leopard, Baldwin Gallery, Aspen, Colorado.
Abstract: Paintings, works on paper, a photograph and sculpture create a constellation of events, impressions, mapping ideas of becoming in relation to what is absolute.

Publication: 2007. Another Show for the Leopard. Baldwin Gallery, Aspen, CO. 96 pages.
66 illustrations. Hardcover.
Awaiting a Second Plan, Sara Meltzer Gallery, New York.

Abstract: An environment of painting, sculpture, a suite of watercolors and a photograph that, as a statement, simultaneously confess the existence of failure and hope.

Abstract: An environment of The Boy Raising His Arm installed in St. Mary’s Church.

Six Paintings on the Duration of Exile, Akira Ikeda Gallery, Taura, Japan.
Abstract: An environment of six large-scale paintings.
2006 Coming Home, Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery, Lincoln
Schneebett, Museum der bildenden Künste Leipzig, Germany.
Abstract: Schneebett—the bed of snow—is installed in the context of the museum environment searching for new interactions between the audience and the notions of myth and death.
Coming Home, Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery, Univ. of Nebraska, Lincoln, Nebraska.
Abstract: The central sculpture of Coming Home (2000) is reinstalled with related photographs and works on paper.
Splinter. Return, Greg Kucera Gallery, Seattle, Washington.
Abstract: The relationship of the figure and the landscape, in particular, their interconnectedness and what the landscape imposes on consciousness.
2005 Enrique Martinez Celaya, John Berggruen Gallery, San Francisco
Enrique Martínez Celaya. Works on Paper, Oakland Museum of California, Oakland, California.
Abstract: A ten-year survey exhibition of EMC’s works on paper, a central component of the artist's work and, frequently, the bridge between his writings and visual works.
Shore: "Is Today Yesterday" (Part I), Akira Ikeda Gallery, Berlin, Germany.
Abstract: A large environment of works developed over two years, in which children and the landscape articulate concerns of identity, displacement, and mortality.
Shore: "Is Today Yesterday" (Part II), Griffin Contemporary, Santa Monica, California.
Abstract: This environment of paintings, mirrors, a large bronze of a boy missing an arm, photographs, and a tar-body reclining investigated impermanence.
Boy in the Landscape, John Berggruen Gallery, San Francisco, California.
Abstract: A study of the consequences of fear and isolation in the formation of identity through an environment of paintings, works on paper and a sculpture. The exhibition also included a large take-with-you sheet of writings and diagrams.
Enrique Martínez Celaya: The Photographs, Brauer Museum of Art, Valparaiso, Indiana.
Abstract: A survey exhibition of the artist's photographs and the writings and annotations used to plan the
final works.
2004 Schneebett, Berliner Philharmonie, Berlin, Germany.
Abstract: This large-scale installation—the final stage in the artist’s Beethoven cycle—served as a counterpoint to the musical performances. The project also included booklets for the public written by the artist, performances by the orchestra and a public lecture sponsored by the American Academy in Berlin.
Poetry in Process, CU Art Museum, Boulder, Colorado.
Abstract: A survey exhibition organized around the philosophical trajectories of the artist’s work. Curated by Lisa Tamiris-Becker. Lecture at the Aspen Institute.
Publication: Poetry in Process. 2004. CU Art Museum, Boulder, Colorado. Text by Lisa Tamiris-Becker. 112 pages.60 illustrations. Hardcover.
Boy (Part II), Baldwin Gallery, Aspen, Colorado.
Abstract: This environment of paintings, sculptures and works on paper is the second component of a three part series that dealt with the ontological concerns of ‘the boy in the landscape.’ The first piece, which functioned as a catalyst for a trinity, emerged in All the Field is Ours.
The October Cycle, Museum of Art, Fort Lauderdale, Fort Lauderdale, Florida.
Abstract: For his own re-installation of the traveling exhibition The October Cycle the artist created a one-hundred foot wall-work using a mixture of his own blood and birch ashes.
Boy (Part III), Liverpool Street Gallery, Sydney, Australia.
Abstract: This environment of paintings, sculptures and works on paper was the third component of a three part series. That dealt with the ontological concerns of ‘the boy in the landscape.’
2003 The October Cycle, Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery, Univ. of Nebraska, Lincoln, Nebraska.
Abstract: An environment of works concerned with the temporary nature of existence. In addition, the project included a residency and public lectures supported by the Hixson-Lied College at the University of Nebraska.
Publication: The October Cycle. 2003. Marquand Books, Seattle, Washington (Published in association with Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery and Sculpture Garden, University of Nebraska-Lincoln). Text by Daniel A. Siedell and Enrique Martínez Celaya. 96 pages. 38 illustrations. Hardcover.
All the Field is Ours (Boy Part I), Griffin Contemporary, Santa Monica, California.
Abstract: An environment of poems, paintings and sculptures that responded to the birth of the artist’s children and to the paintings of The October Cycle.
Publication: All the Field is Ours. 2003. Griffin Contemporary, Santa Monica, California. Text by Thomas McEvilley. 60 pages. 34 illustrations. Softcover.
Recent Paintings, John Berggruen Gallery, San Francisco, California.
Abstract: Using paintings on canvas and paper as well as seven not-for-publication poems, the project deepened the artist’s examinations of filial relationship and the notion of ‘Becoming.’
2002 Enrique Martinez Celaya, Danese, New York City
The October Cycle, Griffin Contemporary, Venice, California and Danese Gallery, New York.
Abstract: A two-part environment of works concerned with the temporary nature of existence. Margo Timmins of Cowboy Junkies performed for the opening.
2001 Enrique Martinez Celaya, Mirror, Baldwin Gallery, Aspen
Enrique Martinez Celaya, Griffin Contemporary, Santa Monica
Enrique Martínez Celaya, 1992-2000, The Contemporary Museum, Honolulu, Hawaii. Travel to The Orange County Museum of Art, Newport Beach, California and The Massachusetts College of Art, Boston, Massachusetts.
Abstract: Curated by James Jensen in collaboration with the artist, this exhibition brought together seventy-eight objects and many of the writings associated with them to elucidate the cross-disciplinary and philosophical approach of the artist. All three exhibitions presented lectures by the artist as well as scholars, writers and curators.
Publication: Enrique Martínez Celaya, 1992-2000. Wienand Verlag, Cologne. Texts in English and German by
Charles Merewether, Abigail Solomon-Godeau, Howard N. Fox, Rosanna Albertini, Judson J. Emerick, Arden Reed and Colette Dartnall. 282 pages. 99 color and 90 black and white illustrations. Hardcover.
Amerika – Europa: Ein künstlerischer Dialog, Von der Heydt-Museum, Wuppertal, Germany.
Abstract: This exhibition—a broad selection of the Rosenkranz Collection—included a room of paintings and
sculptures by the artist.
Publication: Amerika – Europa: Ein künstlerischer Dialog. Von der Heydt-Museum, Wuppertal, Germany. Texts by Sabine Fehlemann, Peter Frank, Pontus Hulten, Dieter Rosenkranz, Klaus Weber, Wulf Herzogenra, Marlene Baum and Charles Merewether. 320 pages. Hardcover.
2000 Enrique Martinez Celaya, Recent Painting, Galeria Ramis Barquet, 57th Street, New York City
Enrique Martinez Celaya, Griffin Contemporary, Santa Monica
Pinturas de Merced, Galería Ramis Barquet, Monterrey, Mexico
Abstract: An environment of paintings, sculptures and works on paper interacting with each other and with the ephemeral writings on the walls of the gallery.
Publication: Pinturas de Merced. Text by Charles Merewether. Galería Ramis Barquet, Monterrey, Mexico and New York. 54 pages. 22 illustrations in color. Softcover.
Coming Home, Griffin Contemporary, Venice, California.
Abstract: This installation included an elk and a boy, both made of tar and feathers, and twelve works on paper. The artistic/philosophical project explored the formation of identity.
1999 Enrique Martinez Celaya, Griffin Contemporary, Santa Monica
The Field, St. Pancras Chambers/Andrew Mummery Gallery, London, United Kingdom.
Abstract: For this project, the first art exhibition at the historic Saint Pancras Chambers, the artist conceived the space as a series of small installations where paintings, watercolors, photographs, sculptures and poems interacted with the historic rooms of the St. Pancras.
1998 Works on Paper and Poems, Baldwin Gallery, Aspen, Colorado, Griffin Contemporary, Venice, California and Luigi Marrozzini Gallery, San Juan, Puerto Rico.
Abstract: This three-venue project consisted of texts and visual works exploring loss and its representation as well as the dialectic of distance and attachment as the central concerns on the cycle of sixteen material works and twelve poems. The cycle also included lectures and readings by the artist.
Publication: Enrique Martínez Celaya: Works on Paper and Poems. Luigi Marrozzini Gallery, San Juan,
Puerto Rico and Griffin Contemporary, Santa Monica, California.
1997 Redemption, Burnett Miller Gallery, Santa Monica, California.
Abstract:An inquiry into the foundations of myth and the possibility of redemption through a group of philosophical writings, poems, sculptures and paintings.
1996 Bronx Museum of the Arts, Bronx, New York.
Abstract: An environment of paintings and writings exploring exile. The project also included a reading by the artist.
1994 Black Paintings, University Art Museum, University of California, Santa Barbara, California.
Abstract: Based on three poems, this environment of black paintings was the final embodiment of the artist's concern with kitsch within the formation of personality. The project also included the publication of a small book of poems and paintings.
Publication: The Black Paintings: Poems and Visual Works. University Art Museum, Santa Barbara, California.

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2007 The Missing Peace : Artists Consider the Dalai Lama, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco, travel ; Emory Visual Arts Gallery, Atlanta, The Rubin Museum of Art (RMA), New York City
OPEN ev + a 2007, ev + a, Limerick
2006 The Missing Peace : Artists Consider the Dalai Lama, Loyola University Museum of Art (LUMA), Chicago, Travel ; Fowler Museum at UCLA, Los Angeles
2005 Laguna’s Hidden Treasures : Art from Privite Collections, Laguna Art Museum, Laguna Beach
Personal Mythologies, Earlier, Recent and Future Acquisitions, The Contemporary Museum Honolulu, Honolulu
2004 Summer Group Show, Griffin Contemporary, Santa Monica
Luminosity, John Berggruen Gallery, San Francisco
2003 Museum Store Collects, ASU Art Museum, Arizona State University Art Museum, Tempe
Pomona College Faculty Exhibition, Pomona College Museum of Art, Claremont
2001 Landscapes, Griffin Contemporary, Santa Monica
1999 The Labyrinth of Multitude : Contemporary Latin American Artists in Los Angeles, Luckman Gallery, Los Angeles
1998 Interactions, Pomona College Museum of Art, Claremont
1997 Show of Hands, George Adams Gallery, New York City

SELECTED PUBLIC COLLECTIONS


 

GERMANY Museum der bildenden Künste Leipzig, Germany
Sammlung Rosenkranz, Berlin, Germany
Neues Stadtmuseum der Stadt Landsberg/Lech, Germany
USA Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, USA
Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, California, USA
Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, California, USA
Miami Art Museum, Miami, Florida, USA
The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Texas, USA
Denver Art Museum, Denver, Colorado, USA
Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego, California, USA
Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, Nebraska, USA
The Colorado Collection, Boulder, Colorado, USA
Frederick R. Weisman Art Museum, Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA
Oakland Museum of California, Oakland, California, USA
The Contemporary Museum, Honolulu, Hawaii, USA
Davenport Museum of Art, Davenport, Iowa, USA
The Bronx Museum of the Arts, Bronx, New York, USA
Pomona College Museum of Art, Claremont, California, USA
Arkansas Art Center, Little Rock, Arkansas, USA
Brauer Museum of Art, Valparaiso, Indiana, USA
Microsoft Art Collection, Redmond, Washington, USA
Progressive Insurance Collection, Mayfield Village, Ohio, USA

SELECTED PUBLICATIONS AND LECTURES


Systems, Time and Daybreak. Presidential Professor Lecture, KANEKO, University of Nebraska,
Omaha, 2008;
Art and Museums. Presidential Professor Lecture, Sheldon Museum of Art, University of Nebraska,
Lincoln, 2008;
Photography as Grief. Presidential Professor Lecture, Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, 2007;
The Parting of the Exemplary Museum. works + conversations, Number 15: November, 2007: 34-35, 45;
Conformar un lenguaje. In Como Aprendí Inglés. Washington D.C.: National Geographic Society, 2007;
Now What? Journal of Aesthetic Education, 41:12, University of Illinois Press: 17-21;
Artists on Art: From Any Angle. Logan Lectures, Denver Art Museum, Denver, Colorado, 2007;
A Personal Note on Art and Compassion. works + conversations, Number 14: May, 2007: 24-25;
Photography as Grief. Artist Lecture Series, Photo Miami, Miami, Florida, 2006;
Introduction to the Projects, notes on included work. In Martínez Celaya. Early Work. Delray Beach, Florida:
Whale and Star, 2006;
The Artist: Theory and Philosophy. Anderson Ranch Art Center, Snowmass Village, Colorado, 2006;
Idea Generation: Currency for the Knowledge Economy. Hope Center, Richmond, Virginia, 2005;
Berliner Philharmonie [co-sponsored by the Stiftung Berliner Philharmoniker, the Forum Zukunft Berlin,
and the American Academy in Berlin], Berlin, Germany, 2004;
October. In Enrique Martínez Celaya: The October Cycle, 2000-2002. Sheldon Memorial Art Gallery and Sculpture Garden, 2003;
Hixson-Lied College, University of Nebraska, Lincoln, Nebraska, 2003;
New York University, New York, New York, 2003;
Massachusetts College of Art, Boston, Massachusetts, 2003;
Preface. In Les Fleurs du Mal, Selections from Charles Baudelaire, Delray Beach, Florida: Whale and Star, 2001;
Modern and Contemporary Council, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, California, 2001;
Orange County Museum of Art, Newport Beach, California, 2001;
Intersections. University of Hawai'i at Mānoa, Honolulu, Hawaii, 2001;
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, SECA Group, San Francisco, California, 2000;
California Center for the Arts, Escondido, California, 2000;
Berlin. In Berlin: Photographs and Poems. Los Angeles, California: Stephen Cohen Gallery and
William Griffin Editions, 1998.

PUBLICATIONS OF WHALE AND STAR


Modernist Archaist. 2008. A Whale and Star ‘Artists and Writers book.’ Whale and Star, Delray Beach, Florida.
160 pages. Softcover.
Abstract: The most complete English-language collection of Osip Mandelstam's poetry. Edited by Russian scholar
Kevin M. F. Platt, who also contributes an illuminating essay.
Nomad. 2007. Whale and Star in collaboration with Miami Art Museum, Delray Beach, Florida. 128 pages. Full color. Hardcover.
Abstract: Published on the occasion of the exhibition Enrique Martínez Celaya: Nomad, Miami Art Museum, November 2, 2007 – January 13, 2008, Miami, Florida.
The Conversations. 2007. Whale and Star, Delray Beach, Florida. 240 pages. 22 illustrations. Softcover.
Abstract: Interviews with sixteen contemporary artists by Richard Whittaker, publisher and editor
of the magazine works + conversations.
XX. 2006. Whale and Star, Delray Beach, Florida. 148 pages. 87 illustrations. Hardcover.
Abstract: 20th Anniversary edition commemorating the music and life of the music band Cowboy Junkies.
Martínez Celaya. Early Work. 2006. Whale and Star, Delray Beach, Florida. Text by Daniel A. Siedell, Thomas McEvilley, Christian Williams, Enrique Martínez Celaya and John Felstiner. 392 pages. 315 illustrations. Hardcover.
Abstract: This book examines the relationship between the artist's foremost environments and projects as well as the role of philosophy and writing in his work.
Guide. 2002. Whale and Star, Los Angeles, California (Published in collaboration with Griffin Editions and Mark Hasencamp). Artist book. Text and Photographs by Enrique Martínez Celaya. Volume I (the text) 140 pages. Volume II (a suite of 10 original black and white photographs). Edition of 60. Hardcover volumes and slipcase.
Abstract: The first volume of this book project narrates a fictional journey in which the artist discusses with an ex-Franciscan the nature of art and the challenges of authenticity. The fictional aspect of the narrative is supported, but also blurred, by a second volume that presents ten black and white photographs of the landscape mentioned in the book.
Sketches of Landscapes (Readings on the Philosophy of Art). 2002. A Whale and Star ‘working book.’
Edited with commentaries by Enrique Martínez Celaya, 402 pages. Softcover.
Abstract: Formulated as an introductory book, Sketches of Landscapes included original texts of
seminal works on the philosophy of art as well as selections of influential critical writings of the nineteenth
and twentieth century.
Selections from Les Fleurs du Mal. 2001. A Whale and Star ‘Artists and Writers book.’ 64 pages. Softcover.
Abstract: For this project the artist assembled together—for the first time in an English publication—poems selected from Les Fleurs du Mal and the full portfolio of 9 etchings from Odilon Redon's Les Fleurs du Mal, published by Henri Fleury, Paris, France, 1923.
Joseph Beuys, Multiples and Other Forms of Politics. 2001. Text by Beatrice Foessel and Johannes Stuettgen. Whale and Star. 16 pages. Softcover.
Abstract: Working with German scholars, the artist published a small and accessible catalog with the
goal of further expanding the understanding of Beuys among American audiences.
Unbroken Poetry: The Work of Enrique Martínez Celaya. 1999. Text by Anne Trueblood Brodzky.
Whale and Star, Venice, California. 112 pages. 78 illustrations, 53 in color. Hardcover.
Abstract: The first book in the artist’s publishing efforts through Whale and Star was the product of an extended conversation with Anne Brodzky resulting in a book environment bringing together images, notes, interviews, diagrams and analysis to explore the source and the aims of the artist’s work.