Biography

Enrique Martínez Celaya (b. 1964, Cuba) is the first Provost Professor of Humanities and Arts in the history of the University of Southern California and a Montgomery Fellow at Dartmouth College, where he was also a Roth Family Distinguished Visiting Scholar.

 

Through his paintings, sculptures, installations, and writing, Martínez Celaya explores the exilic imagination, blending reality, myth, and memory to create poetic works that range from the semi-autobiographical to the resonantly universal. He describes his work as an open-ended, existential inquiry simultaneously addressing the "big gears of nature and the small gears of human experience."


His work is part of the collections of over sixty leading international museums, including The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; The State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia; Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; Los Angeles County Museum of Art; The Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C.; Moderna Museet, Stockholm; The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston; Pérez Art Museum Miami, Florida; and the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles.

 

He is the author of nine books on art, philosophy, and poetry, including two volumes of his Collected Writings and Interviews (University of Nebraska Press: 2020 and 2010), tracing three decades of the artist’s creative thought. His work has also been the focus of several monographic publications, including two recent books by Hatje Cantz, Berlin: Martínez Celaya, SEA SKY LAND: towards a map of everything and Enrique Martínez Celaya and Käthe Kollwitz: Von den ersten und den letzten Dingen.


Martínez Celaya trained as an artist and physicist at Cornell University, the University of California, Berkeley, and the University of California, Santa Barbara. He lives and works in Los Angeles.

Works
  • Enrique Martínez Celaya, The Prodigal Room, 2024
    The Prodigal Room, 2024
  • Enrique Martínez Celaya, The Gap, 2025
    The Gap, 2025
  • Enrique Martínez Celaya, The Son, 2025
    The Son, 2025
  • Enrique Martínez Celaya, Installation view, "The Grief of Almost," Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH., 2024
    Installation view, "The Grief of Almost," Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College, Hanover, NH., 2024
  • Enrique Martínez Celaya, Installation view, "The Word-Shimmering Sea: Diego Velázquez/Enrique Martínez Celaya," the Hispanic Society Museum & Library, New York, NY., 2024
    Installation view, "The Word-Shimmering Sea: Diego Velázquez/Enrique Martínez Celaya," the Hispanic Society Museum & Library, New York, NY., 2024
  • Enrique Martínez Celaya, El paquete (The Package), 2024
    El paquete (The Package), 2024
  • Enrique Martínez Celaya, El tigre (The Tiger), 2024
    El tigre (The Tiger), 2024
  • "El Bandolero (The Bandit)," 2024, oil, wax, and charcoal on canvas, 118 x 92 inches (299.72 x 233.68 cm).
    The Word-Shimmering Sea Series, 2024
  • Enrique Martínez Celaya, Installation view, "The Word-Shimmering Sea: Diego Velázquez/Enrique Martínez Celaya," the Hispanic Society Museum & Library, New York, NY., 2024
    Installation view, "The Word-Shimmering Sea: Diego Velázquez/Enrique Martínez Celaya," the Hispanic Society Museum & Library, New York, NY., 2024
  • Enrique Martínez Celaya, La anoranza, las medias (The Yearning, The Socks), 2024
    La anoranza, las medias (The Yearning, The Socks), 2024
  • Enrique Martínez Celaya, La anoranza, el avion (The Yearning, The Airplane), 2024
    La anoranza, el avion (The Yearning, The Airplane), 2024
  • Enrique Martínez Celaya, The Story of the Boy and the Flowers, 2024
    The Story of the Boy and the Flowers, 2024
  • Enrique Martínez Celaya, Los que nunca se van, 2023
    Los que nunca se van, 2023
  • Enrique Martínez Celaya, Las lágrimas rutinarias, 2023
    Las lágrimas rutinarias, 2023
  • Enrique Martínez Celaya, The Harvest, 2023
    The Harvest, 2023
  • Enrique Martínez Celaya, The Apple Tree, 2023
    The Apple Tree, 2023
  • Enrique Martínez Celaya, Installation view, "The Treasure of the Patient," Museo Marino Marini, Florence, Italy., 2023
    Installation view, "The Treasure of the Patient," Museo Marino Marini, Florence, Italy., 2023
  • Enrique Martínez Celaya, The Omen (Tulip), 2023
    The Omen (Tulip), 2023
  • Enrique Martínez Celaya, Installation view, "There-bound," Virginia Steele Scott Galleries of American Art at The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens, San Marino, CA, 2021
    Installation view, "There-bound," Virginia Steele Scott Galleries of American Art at The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens, San Marino, CA, 2021
  • Enrique Martínez Celaya, Installation view, "The Landmark," The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens, San Marino, CA., 2016
    Installation view, "The Landmark," The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens, San Marino, CA., 2016
  • Enrique Martínez Celaya, Installation view, "The Crown," Collection of The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens, San Marino, CA., 2015
    Installation view, "The Crown," Collection of The Huntington Library, Art Museum, and Botanical Gardens, San Marino, CA., 2015
  • Enrique Martínez Celaya, Installation view, "The Tower of Snow," The State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia., 2012
    Installation view, "The Tower of Snow," The State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia., 2012
  • Enrique Martínez Celaya, The Castle, 2011
    The Castle, 2011
  • Enrique Martínez Celaya, Installation view, "The Boy with Horse," Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine, New York, NY., 2010
    Installation view, "The Boy with Horse," Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine, New York, NY., 2010
  • Enrique Martínez Celaya, Installation view, "Schneebett," Berlin Philharmonic, Berlin, Germany., 2004
    Installation view, "Schneebett," Berlin Philharmonic, Berlin, Germany., 2004
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