SAN ANTONIO, TX.- Ruiz-Healy Art is happy to announce that The Museum of Modern Art, New York, has acquired three unique works by Chicano artist César A. Martínez as part of an acquisition from the The Edward John Noble Foundation. Martínez began his Serape series in the late 1960s, as an ode to the Color Field movement and as a reaction to contemporary art from a cultural standpoint.

In his Serape series, Martínez illustrates traditional Mexican embroidery, spotlighting the colorful and bright palette that both lends to beauty and cultural appreciation. We see concepts of Abstract Expressionism harmonizing over Contemporary visuals, both visualizing emotion and internal messages for the viewer and artist alike.

Born in 1944 in Laredo, Texas, Martínez graduated from Texas A&I University, Kingsville in 1968. A trailblazer of the Chicano Art Movement of the late 1970s and 1980s, Martínez’s works are icons of Mexican American art history. Martínez explains, “The Chicano Movement was a renaissance in thinking about our community, creating images, and writing reflecting who we are. Institutionally, Chicano representation was non-existent; we had nothing to relate to, so we had to make it up as we went along."

Deeply rooted in his native South Texas and its Mexican American culture, Martínez’s work reflects a broad knowledge of the Western art canon and finds inspiration from color-field paintings, Mexican architecture, and photography. The acquisition marks Martinez's first work in the museum’s renowned permanent collection; we are grateful to MoMA as it fosters the gallery’s mission of placing works in major museum collections of underrepresented artists.