User:Davemartinez/sandbox/sandbox

Personal life

Dave Martinez (b. 1964) is a Hispanic American, sign painter, graphic designer, artist, photographer, and educator.

Work

As the beginning of a new decade (1980-89) that introduced Desktop Publishing, he approached technology carefully and aimed to keep certain qualities of humanity in design. This meant addressing the transition from handcrafted designs from earlier film processes of printing to the Macintosh computer era. What occurred was a stripping away of handcrafted forms of the designer into binary code. The challenge was to reemphasize a formal link between design, and the designer. Wanting to go beyond formal qualities meant the discovery of a new philosophical approach to the meaning and application of a discipline at the time often termed “Commercial Art” until the decade was over. The influence of Existentialism[] provided a further spring board and redefined a new purpose for graphic design during the following decade. His earliest work of this exploration was called “Exist In Design” and included combined elements from painting to graphic design.

He began his educational career at Washtenaw Community College in Ann Arbor, Michigan and continued at neighboring Eastern Michigan University majoring in Graphic Design and Art. During the late 1980’s he challenged established beliefs that graphic design strictly provided for a commercial service. A position that caused hardship during his first four years at graduate school, particularly when his faculty advisor tried in vain to correct him, “You’re not an artist, you’re a designer!” He was finally accepted by his third year to the design program at EMU after he had already began combining photographic film, photocopy and painting to graphic posters and brochures. With less than 12 credits to graduate, his artistic approach still not supported, he transferred to the MFA program at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago to take advantage of its multi-disciplinary curriculum.

An admirer of the Hungarian artist and photographer Lazlo Moholy-Nagy’s [] book “Experiment into Totality” was extremely influential in his development as an artist, photographer and as a designer. Moholy experimented with everything, including painting, photography and the graphic arts. The writings of Jean Paul Satre[] on Existential Philosophy were responsible for his inclusion of personal text about our place in contemporary society challenged the commercialism of design. By the mid-nineties, photography and printmaking were included in his visual language and the philosophy of existentially linking the designer as an artist had cracked the barrier between Design and Fine Art as separate objectives in the creative arts.

These ideas further lead to the creation a of work he called Intagliographs. This included a series of photographic images with symbols and narratives etched into the film negative. Sometimes the etchings were completed before filming took place, sometimes afterwards. This process created a juxtaposition of etched markings that invited the element of chance. Etched narratives in film allowed more to be expressed than traditional photographic images alone. Further experimentation led to a rearrangement of cut up 35mm negatives and rejoined, sometimes randomly sometimes by design in two processes of photography he called Photoweaves and Photomosaics. The separation and recreation of the negative relies on light, color and form with juxtapositions created without the computer that lacked the humanity of natural forms he was looking for. Each manipulation created a different “series” of prints much like the art of printmaking while light, even its imperfections on film negatives, created beautiful authenticity of color, and crudeness which he witnessed in film maker Stan Brakhage, Mothlight (1963)[].

The confrontational experiences he received during his educational experiences led him to become a professor of design and wanting nothing else but to being open minded to students with their own creative ideas to design and to create an openness with humor that allowed him to work closely with students. During his work in the design program at Virginia Commonwealth University, he volunteered and was accepted to assist Philip Meggs[] with the transitioning of his publication "A History of Graphic Design" into a digital platform prior to Meggs' untimely death (2002).

An innovative educator, his interview with educator Rudolph Arnheim[] on the earliest proposal for a distance learning program was the impetus for the founding of a multicultural design program he called The Collaborative Classroom which sought cooperation between international universities to work on a shared project conducted between multiple classrooms. He also utilized technology to create The Digital Window, an international student exhibit between graphic design programs that included Saudi Arabia, Cuba, Great Britain, and the United States.

This discipline; to focus on multi-ethnicity made sense to his objective for more culturally diverse learning in academia. Growing up in the Midwest he witnessed a lack of Hispanic professors in the classroom and decided to change the color of the classroom.

Media/Publications

The Bray, Southern Arkansas University, published article, “Photographs and the uses of memory” November 21, 2002.

Chattanooga Times, published letter. “Save the Arts and Crafts from Demolition”. March 31, 2002.

ÉMIGRÉ International Typography Magazine, published Graphic Design Manifesto. Émigré Magazine No. #53, 2000.

Notable exhibitions

“Rock, Paper, Scissors” Poster. Central Academy of Fine Arts, China (CAFA), Luxun Academy of Fine Arts, China (LAFA), National School of Fine Arts, Mexico (ENAP), Shanghai University, China, Sint-Lucas Ghent, Belgium, February 2012.

Color Work. High Institute of Industrial Design (ISDI), Havana Cuba. April 2010.

Black and White Redefined. Museo de Arte Contemporaneo, Tamaulipas, Mexico, 2009.

Catedraticos de Arte, Casa De la Cultura de Reynosa, A.C. May 2008.

Bosque Conservatory, Clifton TX. Viewpoint 2007.

Third Coast National. K Space Contemporary, Corpus Christi, TX. Oct. – Nov. 2007.

Texas Photographic Society, San Antonio, Texas. 21st Annual Members only show. January - February, 2006.

Lessedra Art Gallery. Sofia, Bulgaria. Permanent Collection, Works from The School of the Art Institute of Chicago. November 2006.

Presentations/Lectures

“Design Education and Cultural Collaboration.” the University of Art. Havana, Cuba. May 2007.

“History of the Post-Modern American Poster” at the High Institute of Industrial Design. Modern and Post-Modern: theories and practice. Havana, Cuba. March 10, 2005.

“Technology and Curriculum Integration” Microcomputers in Education Conference. Arizona State University, Tempe, AZ. March 17-19, 2003.

“Distance Education Studio, Is There a Future?” College Art Association. Philadelphia, PA. February 21, 2001.

External links

http://dream-museum.com/