ARENA

ACRE Projects is pleased to present ARENA, a solo exhibition of new work by artist Colin Martinez, and the launch of his second self-published photo book.

Made over the last five years, the quiet frames included in ARENA depict evocative moments of pigeon rescuers; controlled burns; bodybuilders; and loners, centering the precarious intersection of people and nature in the contemporary Midwest. The work constantly asks: what might it mean to find new worlds of curiosity and hope in the degraded landscapes of this region?

Martinez shares:

"I was raised with birds as pets. We had many over the years, brought home from the humane society with cages or in glass, but never pets any bigger than a bird; my dad wouldn’t allow it. For a time we had a mouse named Thimble who lives on in many of my mother’s passwords, plenty of unnamed fish, and a couple aquatic frogs, but the birds were the most enduring and loved family pets. The longest living, most agreeable bird was named Ilzamar, and I always thought of him like our family’s dog. The midwest is full of dogs and families and birds, though they say you see a lot less birds than you used to. 

ARENA began about five years ago when I was living in Ohio, and was initially born from a desire to make images that spoke of finding respite within a changing world. Delusions of pristineness are rare in this region–most folks who know the enormous rusted industry, pitted beauty of extracted land, and roadside idiots will tell you all about it. In this way, a new kind of relationship emerges within the interface between human and nature. In this changing region I find myself constantly asking: what might it mean to find new worlds of wonder and hope in these degraded landscapes? There is hope in birds, dogs, and family. There is hope in making images. Most of all, there is hope in the arenas of nature."
 

A remembrancer of wild/Arenas we avoid/The fear she rode,
reminded of the void/That flung the ancient rider to the cold.
- James Wright, from Above the River