Eddie Martinez was born in 1977 in Groton, Connecticut, and lives and works in New York. Having spent his adolescent years making graffiti, Martinez creates paintings on canvas that retain the rough, expressionistic lines and bold colors of street art. Working between representation and abstraction, he paints in oil, enamel, and spray paint while often incorporating found objects, in a fast-paced practice that could be compared to automatism. Noted for his deft draftsmanship, Martinez creates large-scale works that maintain the feeling of drawings. His most apparent visual references are the CoBrA group and Abstract Expressionism; Barry McGee has also been an important figure for him. In addition to his paintings, Martinez creates found-object sculptures and works on paper.