Greg Kucera Gallery is excited to announce our first exhibition, Supreme Fresh, by Long Beach, CA based, Oaxacan artist, Narsiso Martinez. Drawn from the his own experiences as a farmworker, Martinez creates drawings, prints and mixed media installations that pay homage to the people behind the scenes in the agricultural economy who toil in the fields picking the produce we consume. His subjects are depicted in the gear they wear to perform this necessary, but dangerous, job. Hats and goggles are worn to shield them from the sun. Masks and bandanas cover their mouths and noses to protect them from pesticides.

Martinez creates his images in ink, gouache, and charcoal, directly on discarded produce boxes. Integrating the boxes’ graphics into the composition, the artist gives context to the portraits, contrasting the disparities of socioeconomic lifestyles between that of the farmworkers and agribusiness owners.

Biography

Narsiso Martinez (b. 1977, Oaxaca, Mexico) came to the United States when he was 20 years old. He attended Evans Community Adult School and completed high school in 2006 at the age of 29. He earned an Associate of Arts degree in 2009 from Los Angeles City College, his Bachelor of Fine Arts from California State University Long Beach in 2012, and a Master of Fine Arts degree in drawing and painting from California State University Long Beach in 2018.

His work is in the collections of the Hammer Museum, Amon Carter Museum of American Art, University of Arizona Museum of Art, Long Beach Museum of Art, Crocker Art Museum, Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art at the University of Oregon, and the Santa Barbara Museum of Art. Martinez lives and works in Long Beach, CA.