Born in Tarimoro, Guanajuato, Mexico, and raised in Houston, Texas, Gabo Martinez graduated from Texas State University in San Marcos with a BFA in studio art. Drawing upon both traditional and contemporary motifs, Martinez utilizes these visual languages to craft a narrative of her own that reclaims and honors her heritage. Combining the use of printmaking and ceramics, she creates installations and spaces that evoke the warmth of brown bodies and rich vibrant colors. These energetic spaces become vehicles for the re-emergence of barro rojo (red clay), a material with an ancestral legacy, into the contemporary moment. She molds this soft and malleable clay into objects that immortalize her culture and narratives.
Martinez has exhibited her work at Front Gallery in Houston, Wrong Gallery in Marfa, Lone Gallery in Dallas, Texas A&M International University Gallery in Laredo, and at the Sonoma Community Center in California. Her work is carried by All The Feels shop in Houston and Neighborhood Store in Dallas.
To learn more about Gabo Martinez’s work, visit www.gabomartinipotts.com.
Gabo’s residency was generously sponsored in part by Mariela Poleo.