Blockhead in black space

Eddie Martinez has a background in street art. The titular ‘blockhead’ in this painting functions like a graffiti tag, an artistic trademark which the artist deploys in a wide range of media including drawing, sculpture and painting. The ‘blockheads’ in 'Blockhead in black space' also evoke art historical precedents such as the crudely outlined faces of French proponent of ‘art brut’, Jean Dubuffet, and the strange bulbous heads that appear in the late paintings of American artist Philip Guston.

The surface of 'Blockhead in black space' is aggressively worked. Seen up close, it is revealed to be composed from cut pieces of canvas held together by thumbtacks and overpainted with a diverse range of gestures and marks. Densely layered and energetically composed, it combines the speed and raw immediacy of graffiti with a thoughtful appreciation of the history of late 20th Century expressionistic painting.