Elena Martinique

Art Exhibitions | Elena Martinique

Using surreal interpretations and cinematic gestures, the photographer Marjorie Salvaterra reflects on the shared experiences of womanhood. Her pictures are loaded with reference, humor and struggle to make sense of this crazy world. A visual artist and...

Top Lists | Elena Martinique

Among the largest works KAWS ever produced, Untitled (Kimpsons #1) belongs to the iconic KIMPSONS series that arose out of collaborative design projects between the artist and Japanese cultural entrepreneur and street fashion icon NIGO®. In this particular...

Top Lists | Elena Martinique

An iconic, large-scale painting, Nyt (Companion Close Up) Brown from 2013 once again features KAWS’ signature character, COMPANION. In this iteration, COMPANION is depicted with his head in his white-gloved hands, reflecting a human sensibility. First...

Top Lists | Elena Martinique

Featuring a close-up of SpongeBob SquarePants, GRRR! from 2008 is demonstrative of KAWS’s unique ability to communicate complex human emotion through appropriated cartoon imagery. Rendered with distinct X-crossed eyes, the iconic character is here...

Top Lists | Elena Martinique

A sculpture of massive scale, At This Time from 2013 presents KAWS’ signature COMPANION figure, standing alone with his head tilted backward and his eyes sunk in his hands. Crafted from afromosia wood and executed in a rich, natural color with exposed...

Collectors Tip, Top Lists | Elena Martinique

One of the most famous contemporary Japanese artists, Hiro Ando creates work that conflates traditional and present-day Japan. Drawing on ideas of collectability and fantasy, he combines tradition with contemporary culture in his sculpture...

Collectors Tip, Top Lists | Elena Martinique

Depicting the artist’s iconic character samuraicat, samuraicat diamondstrass references both Damien Hirst’s diamond-covered human skull and the Diamond Dust works of Andy Warhol. Samuraicat is based on the motif of maneki-neko, standing...

Collectors Tip, Top Lists | Elena Martinique

This work references “Saburo” Naotora, the youngest son of Hidetora Ichimonji, a powerful though now elderly warlord from Ran, Akira Kurosawa‘s action-drama. The warlord decided to divide his kingdom among his three sons – giving the...

Collectors Tip, Top Lists | Elena Martinique

Another rendition of the modern Japanese icon, maneki-neko, the work depicts another of Ando’s signature characters, the urbancat. The character is depicted dressed casually, with its hands in its pockets, clearly referencing Ando’s...

Collectors Tip, Top Lists | Elena Martinique

Created in 2017, magoi & higoi depicts the koi fish, associated in Japan with good luck, abundance, perseverance in adversity and strength of purpose. In Buddhism, they represent courage and are a symbol of worldly aspiration and advancement. In Japan,...

Collectors Tip, Top Lists | Elena Martinique

Created in 2017, the work depicts Tanabata, meaning the Evening of the Seventh. This celebrates the meeting of the deities Orihime and Hikoboshi, lovers who according to the legend are separated by the Milky Way. They are allowed to meet only once a year...

Graffiti & Street Art | Elena Martinique

The Scottish artist Robert Montgomery has been called a vandal, a street artist, a post-Situationist, a punk artist and the text-art Banksy. Following a tradition of conceptual art, his work straddles the boundary between art and poetry, bringing a poetic...

Art Exhibitions | Elena Martinique

We live in turbulent times. An important part of the fabric of our society and culture, art has always been reflecting our times, having the ability to resonate with large audiences no matter the medium. Artists all around the world have been responding to...

Collectors Tip, Top Lists | Elena Martinique

First appearing as a six-meter long spray painting in Brighton, Laugh Now on Palette portrays a forlorn monkey, wearing a sandwich board bearing the script “Laugh now, but one day we’ll be in charge”. Along with the rat, the monkey is one of...

Collectors Tip, Top Lists | Elena Martinique

Throughout his career, Banksy’s relationship with law enforcement has been understandably difficult. A striking early example of what would become Banksy’s most iconic motifs, Untitled (Fuck The Police) from 2000 shows a tense police officer...

Art History, Top Lists | Elena Martinique

From the Midas touch and a Sisyphean task, to Pandora’s box and Achilles’ heel, characters from classical Greek and Roman mythology have an inescapable presence in everyday life and culture. The stories of these gods, goddesses, heroes and...

Art History, Top Lists | Elena Martinique

A fresco completed in 1514 for the Villa Farnesina in Rome, Caravaggio‘s Triumph of Galatea depicts a mythological story of Galatea. One of the fifty Nereides and the goddess of calm seas, she has been wooed by one-eyed giant Polyphemus with tunes...

Art History, Top Lists | Elena Martinique

Painted in 1864, Gustave Moreau‘s oil on canvas painting Oedipus and the Sphinx is a fresh treatment of the mythological meeting between Oedipus and the Sphinx on the road to Delphi, notably portrayed at Sophocles’ play Oedipus Rex. On his...