A monumental mixed-media work that bridges personal mythology and universal symbolism, the present lot Mandala #14 is an exemplar of Eddie Martinez’s signature style, renowned for his audacious synthesis of street-art verve and painterly sophistication. Created during a pivotal resurgence of his Mandala series, this canvas at a monumental scale embodies Martinez’s exploration of structure and spontaneity. The series, reignited in 2017 after rediscovering early mandala sketches from 2005, culminated in his first museum solo exhibition, Ants at the Picknic, at the Davis Museum in Boston. As Martinez recounted to Forbes, the rediscovery of these drawings sparked a renewed fascination with the mandala’s formal and spiritual potential, leading him to reimagine the motif on a grand scale.

Martinez’s stylistic approach thrives on paradox. While his gestural bravado pays homage to Jean-Michel Basquiat’s graphic urgency, the present lot reveals deeper inspirations rooted in personal history. From a youthful fascination with Buddhism and meditation—later evolving into a daily practice—to the conceptual framework of the ‘container,’ Martinez’s work orbits themes of repetition and containment. ⁱ The mandala, traditionally a geometric spiritual symbol, becomes a dynamic arena for his ‘shapes and marks,’ echoing his earlier tabletop still lifes and the recurring alter ego Spirit Duder, a character glimpsed in early sketches gazing at floating mandalas with ‘crazy eyeballs.’ ⁱⁱ Here, the mandala transcends its sacred origins, morphing into a chaotic cosmos of hooks, spirals, and stenciled patterns that oscillate between control and abandon.

Visually, the work is a sensory onslaught, with blocks of colour fields placed against a background that resembles scrap paper, evoking urban graffiti’s neon glare, while silkscreened geometries—reminiscent of tribal tattoos or street signage—collide with oil-paint drips and spray-can blooms. The title’s allusion to spiritual ritual contrasts with the painting’s asymmetrical frenzy, yet Martinez acknowledges an unintentional spirituality in the act of creation.

“I think the act of drawing and the act of painting definitely fill a spiritual place for me. There’s nothing intentional while making them - I don’t try to present any kind of spiritual association. But that said, having them here in this room in the Davis Museum, when we installed this show two weeks ago, they were hanging and the lighting wasn’t really ready yet, so it was kind of dim in here and I just sat and looked at them individually. And I had what could be considered a spiritual experience.”

— Eddie Martinez

ⁱ Eddie Martinez, quoted in Ann Binlot, ‘Eddie Martinez Opens His First Museum Show At The Davis Museum,’ Forbes, 27 October 2017, online
ⁱⁱ Ibid.