Biography
The material José Luis Martinat works with, often film, photographs, artwork or sound, is subsequently revealed in a new formation, or ‘deformation’, which removes the original meaning of the work and creates the possibility of new associations and interpretations. This working process reflects his interest in images as purely artificial constructions and how reality is experienced through them.
Two of his works were included in the 2009 Sharjah Biennial. Characteristic of his work, City (2006) was a video work where Martinat appropriated old cartoon footage then meticulously removed every feature other than the buildings. In The Commissioned Drawings Series (2006-08) the artist asked street portrait artists in Lima to paint him as living and then as dead.
Martinat has had solo exhibitions at the Göteborg Museum of Art, Sweden (2010), Museu da Cidade, Portugal (2010), Gallery Rum 46, Århus, Denmark (2008), Gallery 54, Göthenburg (2008) and the Malmö Art Academy Gallery (2008). He has participated in numerous group exhibitions including the Sharjah Biennial (2009), Malmö Art Museum, Sweden (2008), a collaborative international exhibition project at the Wysing Arts Centre, Cambridge UK with Lima’s La Culpable Gallery Space (2007), and Lima Art Museum, Lima, Peru (2006).
Martinat studied photography and film at the University of Göthenburg, Sweden (2001-03) and the Malmö Fine Art Academy, Sweden (2004-07). Born in Lima, Peru in 1974, he lives and works in Göthenburg, Sweden.
October 2010
This person was part of Sharjah Biennial 9
