Artist Talk | Narsiso Martinez
Narsiso Martinez. Photo: Yubo Dong
Narsiso Martinez, Supreme Fresh, 2023, ink, gouache, charcoal, simple leaf, acrylic, collage, and matte gel on produce boxes, The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston purchase funded by the Latino Art Fund.
December 11, 2024
Artist Narsiso Martinez shares the story of how he came to the United States in his 20s and how his experience as a farmworker continues to inform his practice. By using discarded produce boxes to illustrate the invisible labor necessary to provision markets around the country, Martinez questions the industry’s conspicuous use of undocumented workers for essential tasks, and the indispensable contributions of these workers.
Born in Oaxaca, Mexico, Martinez creates drawings, paintings, and multi-media installations that celebrate the vital and often overlooked labor performed by farmworkers in the United States. Pulling from influences as diverse as 1930s social realism and street art, Martinez combines charcoal, gouache, gold leaf, and collage to produce portraits of industrious field workers layered atop cardboard produce boxes. His work Supreme Fresh has been acquired by the MFAH and remains on view through January 2025 in the third-floor atrium of the Kinder Building.
Plan Your Visit
- Admission is free.
- This event takes place in the Lynn Wyatt Theater in the Kinder Building. Seating is available on a first-come, first-served basis.
- Parking Information | Museum Hours | MFAH Campus Map
This program is funded by the MFAH Latin Maecenas patron group.