Artist: José Jun Martínez

In conversation with a focused viewing room presentation of works by Cheong See Min and Claudia Alarcón & Silät, the gallery’s main exhibition space is dedicated to a solo show by Puerto Rican artist José Jun Martínez. Spanning a decade of immersive contemplation in natural environments, Martínez’s artistic practice translates his perceptions and memories into a language of painting materiality.

The exhibition will display a selection of Martínez’s latest paintings, transforming Puerto Rico’s tropical landscapes into immersive, psychologically charged environments. Rooted in direct encounters with the land, his work explores the entanglement of ecology, colonial history, and perception. Through saturated colour and dense, enveloping compositions, Martínez reimagines landscape as a site of both sensory experience and political memory. While untethered from any single point, his works remain grounded in a powerful sense of emotion and liberation.

Together, the two presentations open a dialogue between painting and textile, tracing distinct, yet resonant, approaches to landscape and ecology across the Caribbean, Latin America, and Southeast Asia.

Martínez holds a BA in Fine Arts from the University of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras, Puerto Rico (2015) and an MA in Painting from the Royal College of Art in London, UK where he was awarded the Valerie Beston Artists’ Trust Prize (2024). His recent solo exhibitions include Esto También Permanece (Fundación Ángel Ramos, San Juan, 2022) and El abrazo de las fieras (Walter Otero Contemporary Art, San Juan, 2022) and upcoming shows in Galería Leyendecker, Tenerife; Matt Carey-Williams, London; and Ordovas, London.