Mark Anthony

@markanthony-mfa.bsky.social

81 Followers 53 Following

Brown Multidisciplinary Artist, Educator & Curator based in San Antonio, Texas \\ PNCA BFA ‘12 & PSU MFA ‘14

Alternatively “Me-Mowing” in front of Rothko
Assemblages Assemble, 2025 Assemblages Assemble is a group exhibition highlighting artists within our community who create assemblage based artworks: turning junk, scraps and detritus into fine art. Assemblage, as a medium, also serves as an interesting metaphor for the collection of unique individuals that make up our own community. The inclusion of disparate items, individuals and groupings begin to tell stories of their own. Thirteen different artists have come together to present works that range from narrative in presentation to others that are deliberately abstract. Assemblages Assemble features works by: Allysha Farmer, Cindy Palmer, Ed Escobedo Jr., Emma Garcia, Hannah Celeste Garrison, Hannah Nino Harris, Hannah Strobel, Jo Perez, JW King, Mark Anthony Martinez, Megan Bynum, Nancy Casanova, Tim Olson. Opening Reception: 7–10pm Saturday November 8. Closing Reception: 12–6pm Saturday November 22. Exhibition Closes: Saturday November 29. Otherwise open by appointment.
Draft text: Artist statement: Throughout history the institution has served as a double edge to the artist and their practice. It is at one moment; instrumental to the cultivation of an audience of an artist’s body of work, a place of preservation to care for works so that they may be enjoyed for generations, and at times, even an educational space. The institution can also be a source of frustration to the individual working artist. Where, from the outside looking in, an artist may regard these spaces as arbitrarily exclusive. Pretentious venues which merely launder the image of inequities exacerbated by the wealth-criminals who own them. Meanwhile from the inside; when an artist comes to serve the institution, as an employee – the museum can very well snuff out any creative ambition left in the employed. Short of unionizing these spaces – I illustrate my personal frustration with the institution. Here, I picture the moment that the object of desire; paid for with countless years of: education, networking, internship, onsite training, astronomical debt and personal sacrifice – becomes the object of repulsion. After the dream job sours and the work place becomes a suffocating toxic mess – where does one go? The moment one realizes that a museum/cultural/non-profit job is just a job – you begin to realize you have more in common with your fellow worker as a laborer. When you realize, your labor is all you actually own. As an artist, the only choices left are despair or radicalization. Maybe – I’ll continue in these spaces but maybe together, we can forge better opportunities.
Fortune cookie fortune that reads “Be glad for those around you.”
“MIJA/X – MIJX/A”, is a local survey of Chicana, Tejana, Latina and First Nations women, femme and non-binary identified artists. The multitude of identities that a single artist channels onto the canvas is a powerful act of vulnerability through self expression. This group show emphasizes artists who challenge, complicate and broaden traditional political definitions of “hispanic” and “latino,” through self definition and the act of making. The purpose of this exhibition is to trace the borders of cultural affinities shaped by gender and history between these deeper and ostensibly disparate categories of origin. Opening Reception, August 9, Saturday from 7:00 – 10:00 PM Closing Reception, August 30, Saturday from 6:00 – 9:00 PM
flyer for grasping at straws, 2025 Closing soon — 6-9pm July 26
A crayon drawing of a “Zombie” - enemy from video game, DOOM. Includes text “male loneliness epidemic” in lower left.
Me holding the “CAMMIE” a trophy in the shape of a metal diecast tractor, while I lean on the shelf holding a crt monitor featuring my video art: “art/worker” (2023). 🚜
Mi amor. 🖤
Opening 3–9pm Saturday March 8, 2025 La Zona, 337 W Commerce St, San Antonio, TX
“You don’t own ME” is a group show, oscillating between self-portraiture as exercise and message. In this exhibition these artists offer portals into differing modes of being through a mode of making that could be considered rudimentary. Featuring artists: Alejandro Abeledo, Nicole Amri, Daryan Arcos, Frances Baca, Andy Benavides, Ashley Bueno, Sara Corley, Kaldric Deshon Dow, Rose Elizabeth, Audrya Flores, Raul Rene Gonzalez, Rafael Gutierrez, Oliver Lyric, Gabi Magaly, Mark Anthony Martinez, Michael Martinez, Symone Martinez, Wardell Picquet, Katlyn Powell, Roza Rodarte, Fred Wood, Samantha Ysaguirre. These artists respectively dive deep into the concept of self. On view March 8 through March 29, 2025 INTERLOPER GALLERY & S.M.A.R.T. Project Space, 1906 S. Flores, San Antonio, Texas 78204 Opening Reception, March 8, Saturday from 7:00 – 10:00 PM Closing Reception, March 29, Saturday from 6:00 – 9:00 PM
Exhibition flyer for “You don’t own ME,” 2025 Featuring the names of participating Artists: Alejandro Abeledo, Nicole Amri, Daryan Arcos, Frances Baca, Andy Benavides, Ashley Bueno, Sara Corley, Kaldric Deshon Dow, Rose Elizabeth, Audrya Flores, Raul Rene Gonzalez, Rafael Gutierrez, Oliver Lyric, Gabi Magaly, Mark Anthony Martinez, Michael Martinez, Symone Martinez, Wardell Picquet, Katlyn Powell, Roza Rodarte, Fred Wood, Samantha Ysaguirre Exhibition Statement: “You don’t own ME” is a group show featuring artists who deploy the use of their own image and likeness within their art practice. Either to illustrate a conceptual concern or simply modeling as a practical economic means to render a subject — these artists offer portals into differing modes of being. “You don’t own ME” refers to the artist’s autonomy, independent from mainstream society. Unlike the bad faith portrayals of artists found in mainstream media — here we recognize the Artist as the authority in who they are. Through their respective chosen media; figuration, becomes translated into examples of not just self expression but self definition. Road maps that future artists can use to traverse their own lives through the introspective exercise of self-portraiture. This exhibition serves as a reminder of who we might become should we choose to capture and illustrate our own personhood. With this in mind, who might also need reminding of the importance of self-definition?
Artist holds a print of text overlayed grass. The text reads: VANITY in all caps.
The spider captured under a clear plastic cup. Earlier before capturing the photo — it had scaled the side of the cup,revealing to me its signature hour-glass warning sign!
“I’M NOT A COWBOY…” is a solo exhibition by Mark Anthony Martinez, where the artist questions the mythos of the west. A multimedia exhibition “I'm not a cowboy" draws a metaphorical line in the sand, wherein Martinez invites his audience to “shoot” a cowboy. The artist himself, named after a character from the television show The Rifleman (ABC 1958-1963) – Martinez, expresses the cognitive dissonance of someone who is ostensibly "MEXICAN" but named after an unambiguously white protagonist. Featuring original footage (filmed earlier this year), alongside new text works and even incorporating the usage of a classic NES (Nintendo Entertainment System) Zapper – the exhibition asks the audience to consider their own role in manufacturing and reifying western exceptionalism. I’m not a cowboy will open to the public, with an opening reception 6–9pm Friday November, 8, 2024 at Clamplight Studios & Gallery. The exhibition will run through December 7, 2024 and otherwise be open by appointment. A closing reception will be held 6-9p December 7.
Image Still from single channel video called “Didactic/Musings,” 2024. Reflections on my journey (career) in the arts over the last decade. From student, to underemployed, to arts administration back to underemployed, to museum security while adjuncting, to landscaper — all while maintaining an active art practice. The collected footage, is personal video taken during my time working with a large historic museum in San Antonio. The question of my status as an artist was ironically posed to me while working in administration by a colleague and the single word phrase ‘waste’ is my reckoning with just how wasteful institutions can be. Both in treatment of their employees time and how they treat our local ecology with such disregard for conservation in the face of climate change.