Breanna Cee Martins
Breanna Cee Martins lives in Boston but works and exhibits in New York City. She has participated in many exhibitions including the Whitney Museum Art Party as the featured artist (New York, NY) La Luz De Jesus’ Summer Exhibition (Los Angeles, CA), Flowers Gallery (New York, NY), Palazzo Ca Zanardi (Venice, ITA), The Westminster Dog Show as featured artist (New York, NY), Cica Museum (Brooklyn, NY), Sloma Museum (San Luis Obispo, CA), and others. She has curated exhibitions at The Lodge Gallery, Fred Torres Projects, White Cube Gallery, Klein Projects, and The Lodge NYC.
She has been awarded residencies in Maine, Venice, London, Youngstown, and Boulder; was Commencement Speaker at the 22ndGraduation Ceremony, New York Academy of Art, NY, alongside the artist Jenny Saville, winner of The Richard Kubiak Memorial Curatorial Award, winner of the Westminster Dog Show Poster Competition twice, and a Participating Artist in the Sing For Hope Piano project, installed under the Queensboro Bridge.
Collect Bean: What does growth mean to you?
Breanna Cee Martins: A key phrase I keep in my heart like a motto is “Yesterday, you said today,” and to me, that is growth, pushing like a growing plant for every bit of sunshine you can reach and always reaching for something bigger, greater, and outside of myself. The opposite of growth is entropy, and to me, that means sitting still.
Collect Bean: If you had to describe your work in only three words, what would they be?
Breanna Cee Martins: Haunted, Haunting, Release
Collect Bean: What is the kindest thing someone can tell you about your work?
Breanna Cee Martins: That they see themselves in them, like a half remembered memory. Painting from other people’s family photos because I don’t have any of my own lends itself to this idea of a shared history.
Collect Bean: What role does color play in your practice?
Breanna Cee Martins: Working from a place of monochrome, color becomes the mood, the energy of the piece that I’m trying to conjure up. They are technically monochrome-ish; I use a range of colors from the same family to create form, giving me a tightrope balancing act.
Collect Bean: What is one of your current goals as an artist?
Breanna Cee Martins: Being in Miami this December for a second year <3
Collect Bean: What is something that you do to stay focused?
Breanna Cee Martins: I’ll let you know when I find one.
Collect Bean: How do you think your work has evolved?
Breanna Cee Martins: My work has evolved as I became braver with chopping into outlines and flat forms. They started out almost like broken stained glass windows but gradually began to melt and flow together. For a time, they almost snapped together too tightly but have again become amorphous. It's been 11 years now that I have been exhibiting professionally, and seeing the way my work has grown almost organically has been the best reward ever.
