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Daniel Joseph Martinez
I used to eat lemon meringue pie till I overloaded on my pancreas with sugar and passed out; It seemed to be a natural response to a society of abundance

For I use to eat lemon meringue pie till I overloaded on my pancreas with sugar and passed out; It seemed to be a natural response to a society of abundance, also known as the Bodybuilder series, Daniel Joseph Martinez asked male bodybuilding competitors to pose in whatever position felt “most natural.” They are obviously trained in presenting their ambitiously carved physiques, but their facial expressions seem comparatively unstudied. Against a bare white background, the men appear unexpectedly vulnerable, caught between performance and rehearsal, public and private. While they present themselves deliberately as exemplars of strength, they also inadvertently expose something about the value system that underlies their endeavors—whatever drove them to keep building by tearing tissue, and whatever makes flexing feel like the most honest pose possible.

Daniel Joseph Martinez’s provocative work challenges social conventions and explores themes of identity, politics, and cultural critique. Since emerging in the early 1980s, Martinez has been a significant figure in contemporary art, known for his interdisciplinary approach that spans performance, installation, photography, and text. Martinez employs every medium at his disposal to investigate raw aspects of American culture, dipping adeptly into derangements of body and brain; individual and society. In a work produced for the 1993 Whitney Biennial, he replaced the text on the museum’s admission ticket with the phrase “I Can’t Ever Imagine Wanting to Be White.” Visitors held the sentiment in their hands and kept it in their pockets. In The House America Built (2004), he re-created in exacting detail the cabin in which the Unabomber penned his manifesto. While Martinez’s concepts are tight and concise, they leave ample space to implicate the viewer. His work often confronts issues of race, gender, and the sociopolitical landscape, urging viewers to question their preconceived notions and the structures of power within society. Martinez's pieces are characterized by their bold, confrontational nature and incisive commentary, reflecting his commitment to addressing uncomfortable truths and advocating for social justice.