Martín Gutierrez
Line Up 3, 2014
42 x 28 inches
Courtesy of RYAN LEE, New York

Multi-disciplinary and fashion infused artist Martín Gutierrez (born 1989, Berkeley, CA) will be exhibiting at Ryan Lee Gallery in New York between April 9 and May 9. Titled ‘Can She Hear You!’, the exhibition will feature music videos, site-specific installation, and two new photos series that explore spaces, relationships and nebulous concepts. It’s the artist’s second solo show at the gallery and continues his quest to investigate identity across gender, both collectiva and personal, by transforming the self and physical space. Gutierrez takes himself as center point as he stars, writes, directs, produces, styles and shoots himself alongside with bringing his own original music – which has been featured in videos by Saint Laurent Paris, Christian Dior, and Acne.

Gutierrez is interested in how fluid or vague spaces impact popular culture and art. He provides a dream-like, hypnotic world that draws on the listlessness symptomatic of American society to challenge ideas of race, gender, and class. Integral to the work is the active participation of the audience:“It gives us peace of mind to believe a line separates virtual from reality, but perception until disproven by fact is truth; so if there is a line, it can be moved,” Gutierrez says.

‘Line Ups’ is a series of large colour photos that features up to seven characters (six mannequins and the artist) that shift identities throughout each image. Gutierrez is more suggestive than didactic in addressing concepts of transformation and uniformity. He does this by obscuring information to seduce the audience into re-examining social codes. Gutierrez reconstructs humble materials, such as table skirts, tape, vinyl, and plastic leis, by transforming them into unique accessories, costumes, and sets, that reference iconic people and films, from Milla Jovovich (The Fifth Elements) and Jean Paul Gaultier to Brigitte Bardot. Each image also features every aspect of the process, from hair and make-up to set and costume design, along with lighting, photography, and directing.

‘Girl Friends’ expands on the ideas of fluid boundaries and intimacy, by introducing three pairs of women: Anita and Marie, Tess and Nomi, Rosella and Palma. Each pair exists in a disparate world, but find similarities in the dichotomy of sorrow and allure, innocence and mischief, confinement and freedom. The audience is left to interpret the relationships, whether affection, love, or lust is involved and whether they are romantic, familial or platonic.

The exhibition also features three new music videos (‘Head 2 Toe’, ‘If’, and ‘Blame The Rain’) that continue the exploration into self-transformation, collective identity, and the play between fantasy and reality. These videos further the development of Gutierrez’s singer persona Martine. Recurring themes of 90s hip-hop, fantasy and sexuality are presented throughout. Gutierrez is both muse and director, performer and composer in these videos that feature tropes referring to an early MTV aesthetic. The music is described as “Lana del Rey goes to the Carribean and is still sad” and is completely written, sung, and produced by Gutierrez. The videos show an evolution as he examines popular media, celebrity, and the monstrous nature of both.

The Martín Gutierrez exhibition can be visited from April 9 until May 9 at Ryan Lee Gallery in New York.