Ochi Projects is pleased to present Mystery, Feelings, Internet by Lilian Martinez. The exhibition is on view from October 13 – November 6 with an opening reception Thursday, October 13, 6-8 pm.

Originally trained as a photographer, Martinez never felt the medium met her desire to control perspective, scale and light. Once she transitioned to painting, she found that an image could be whatever she wanted it to be, and began to create dreamlike scenes that celebrate comfort, beauty and humor via vibrant colors, uncomplicated forms, and easily recognizable subject matter.

Martinez’ work embraces flatness and simplicity. Her painterly eye reduces a scene down to a critical selection of subjects, and then reduces those subjects down to their most basic forms, lines and colors. Pulling imagery from pop-culture, art history, and nature, Martinez’ content is typically an amalgamation of easily recognizable symbols—Bart Simpson’s head floats alongside a figure that is reminiscent of a Matisse dancer, a Nike “swoosh” is situated alongside a series of decorative objects such as flowers, leaves or fruit. And when Martinez paints people they are almost always looking extremely relaxed, lounging comfortably, or engaged in a leisure activity. Usually the works have descriptive titles like, When you are sad but you still want to have fun, Her Shoulder is a Mountain, or Drake Eating a Salad. As the titles imply, the works are loosely narrative, but always feel a little chimerical, like something out of a dream.

Bold and colorful Martinez’ work is driven by intent, reconciling memory, reality and dreams into scenes that are a little bit surreal and a little bit funny. The work indulges color and mood, and is direct while maintaining a vibe that is charmingly nonchalant. 

Lilian Martinez (b. 1986, Chicago, IL) lives and works in Los Angeles, CA. She earned a BFA in Photography from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She is the founder of BFGF, an art brand working with digitally printed versions of her artwork. She has exhibited her work throughout Los Angeles, most recently with ltd los angeles, Carlos Queso Gallery and Wayside Gallery.