For two decades Martin Machado has had his feet in two very different endeavors, that of the art world and of the maritime industry. His labor on the water has taken him around the globe on international containerships, commercial fishing vessels, and sailing boats. The ports and people he has worked alongside have become intertwined with the layers of his art, a visual story-telling based on his own experience but reaching back into the history of maritime exploration, colonialism, and ultimately our core human relationship with the sea.
A recent body of work stems from a two hundred mile voyage he made in 2020, solo sailing a twenty-six foot sailboat from San Francisco up through the delta to Sacramento and back. Along the way, Machado created the works for an exhibition in Sacramento, painting in the cabin and cockpit of the small boat while at anchor.Unfortunately the Covid Pandemic was unfolding throughout this voyage and as the shelter-in-place order was implemented, the voyage took on a surreal quality.“The symbolism of my boat to others, and every other person I passed, to me, became wrapped in so many ideas of escapism, longing, and freedom. This reality that we now live in, and our desire to break free from it; I felt it first on that river and it has not left me since.”
His work has been shown internationally and has been featured in The San Francisco Chronicle, The New York Times Magazine, Juxtapoz, New American Paintings, and most recently The Surfer’s Journal.
For interest in purchasing original works please email martinmachadoart@gmail.com or fill out the form on the contacts page.
Born: 1980, San Jose, CA
Education: 2007 MFA The San Francisco Art Institute
2003 BFA UC Santa Barbara
Upcoming Exhibitions...
Sept 25th 2020, The deYoung Open, The deYoung Museum, San Francisco CA
Selected Exhibitions
2020
Bends and Bows, Public Land, Sacramento CA (solo)Meanwhile... Brilliant Champions, New York City NY
2019
Hove To, Park Life Gallery, San Fancisco (solo)
2018
Fluid State, The San Francisco Art Institute, Fort Mason (solo)
Modular Moonlight, K. Imperial Fine Art, San Francisco (solo)
Now You See It, K Imperial at Minnesota St. Projects, San FranciscoLA Art Show, Cordesa Fine Art
2017
Beyond The Horizon, Italian American Museum, SF CA (2 person show with Jen Celio)
Bodies Politic, Cordesa Fine Art, Los Angeles (solo)
Seattle Art Fair, Cordesa Fine Art, Seattle WA
Moniker Art Fair, Bill Daniel Installation, London England
2016
Un Oceano Entre Nos, Festival Teatro Container, Valparaiso Chile
Burning Ice, Euphrat Museum of Art, Cupertino CA
Onshore Winds Offshore Accounts, Seeing Things Gallery, San Jose CA (Solo)
2015
An Ocean Between Us, K. Imperial Fine Art, San Francisco CA (Solo)
Hunky Dory, K. Imperial Fine Art, San Francisco, CA
Six Degrees, FFDG, San Francisco CA
Tired Hands, Good Mother Gallery, Oakland, CA
Companions, Seeing Things Gallery, San Jose CA
Benefit For The Artists, Incline Gallery, San Francisco CA
2014
Everybody's Ocean, The Santa Cruz Museum of Art and History, Santa Cruz CA
It Was Nature, RVCA, San Francisco CA
California Academy of Sciences, Art Night, San Francisco CA
The Sea Provides, Imogen Gallery, Astoria OR (Two Person Show with Corey Arnold)
Salt The Skies, FFDG, San Francisco CA
2013
Locals Only, RVCA, San Francisco CA
This Will Never Work, Southern Exposure, San Francisco CA
The Dead of Winter, Oakland Surf Club, Oakland, CA
Shark Love Inc. PangeaSeed, The Box Jelly, Honolulu, HI
Museo Diego Rivera Anahuacalli, Mexico City, Mexico
Underwater, Roll Up Gallery, San Francisco, CA
All At Sea, Arts At Marks, Honolulu, HI
2012
Más Cara, Tequisquiapan Mexico
Days To Come, 5 Claude Lane, San Francisco, CA
Too Far Gone, Gallery Hijinks, San Francisco, CA (Solo Show)
The Clipperton Project, Glasgow Sculpture Studios, Scotland
The Spanglish Armada, Establish, San Francisco, CA
2011
As It Was Before, Gallery Hijinks, San Francisco, CA
“Breaking Ranks” The Headlands Center for the Arts, Sausalito, CA
2010
Boom Juried Exhibition, Southern Exposure, San Francisco, CA
Reflections Adrift, Heart, San Francisco, CA (Solo Show)
2009
Divining Nature, Antelope Valley College, CA
Inaugural Desacreatures, The Space Gallery, San Francisco, CA
2008
Save The Waves 111 Minna, San Francisco, CA
Grounded? Juried Show, Southern Exposure, San Francisco, CA
2007
Notthatbalai Art Festival 07, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
Vernissage, San Francisco Art Institute MFA Graduate Exhibition, Fort Mason, San Francisco, CA
2006
RIFNM06 The 1st Reno Interdisciplinary Festival of New Media, University of Nevada, Reno, NV (guest lecture)
Upgrade: Photographic Works, Paintings, and Films, Swell Gallery, San Francisco, CA
Press
The Surfer's Journal 2020
The San Francisco Chronicle 2018
New York Times Magazine Jan 2016
Juxtapoz Magazine April 2015
New American Paintings Pacific Edition 2014
Sea Work and Experience
--Currently holding a USCG licensed 100 ton Master and an "AB" Able Bodied Sailor limited endorsement. I am a member of the Sailors Union of the Pacific and the Kvichak Setnetters Assosication. In my years in the maritime industry I have worked on a wide range of vessels, from a tall-ship and modern sailing charters, to commercial fishing boats, container ships and oil spill cleanup ships. Currently my year is typically split between some shipping work on international containerships and my summer season in Alaska fishing commercially for salmon.
