Martine Gutierrez

Frida Kahlo once said, “I am my own muse. I am the subject I know best.” It’s a sentiment that also eloquently describes Martine Gutierrez, a transgender Latinx artist who routinely performs the triple roles of subject, maker, and muse in her own eclectic body of work. Miss Rosen, VICE, September 21, 2018

Martine Gutierrez offers insight into her practice, including Indigenous Woman, her project represented in the Modern’s FOCUS: Martine Gutierrez.

Indigenous Woman is a 146-page glossy publication fashioned after Andy Warhol’s Interview magazine, and it has been received with much acclaim. For this undertaking, Gutierrez served as photographer, model, writer, and ad executive. In a story on Gutierrez, Art 21 writes, “A passive observer may mistake [Indigenous Woman] as another glossy monthly, but under its glamorous surface and high production quality lurks a humorous critique about the exotification of identity.” It goes on to note, “At its core, Indigenous Woman is an editorial look book of dramatized personal identity in conversation with stereotypes the artist has experienced.” In the letter from the editor for Indigenous Woman, the artist writes, “This is not a magazine about fashion, lifestyle, or celebrity. Fashion is a good veneer for making people look at what otherwise might make them feel uncomfortable.” 

Martine Gutierrez lives and works in Brooklyn, New York. Her work is represented in significant public collections including The Museum of Modern Art, New York, and the Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego. Her work has been shown in solo and group exhibitions across the globe. Most recently, Gutierrez’s work was included in the 58th Venice Biennale, May You Live in Interesting Times, curated by Ralph Ruggoff; and Kiss My Genders at the Hayward Gallery in London.

A video recording of this lectures is available on the Modern's Youtube.