Martine Gutierrez “Martine Part I-IX”

RYAN LEE

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RYAN LEE presents its presentation of Martine Part I-IX (2012-2016), a nine-part video work by the Brooklyn-based performance artist Martine Gutierrez. Using costume, photography and film, Gutierrez produces elaborate narratives scenes that employ pop culture tropes in order to reveal identity-particularly gender identity-as a social construct. In addition to directing, editing, and performing in her video work, often playing multiple roles, Gutierrez scores each film with original music.

Martine Part I-IX is Gutierrez’s semi-autobiographical meditation on personal transformation. Begun while she was an undergraduate student at the Rhode Island School of Design, the episodic work follows the eponymous character from Providence to New York via Central America and the Caribbean. As she journeys toward self-discovery, Martine negotiates the permanent and the fleeting-communing with urban architecture and natural elements such as sand, water, and air. As she moves from place to place, Martine attempts to gather, transport, and preserve these untamable elements, connecting her personal quest with larger questions of who we are in the world and the relationship between humans and the planet we live on. Through her interactions with elements that are enduring and timeless yet constantly in flux, Martine attempts to hold on to particular moments and sensations as she continues on her journey toward a future self.