Antonio Alonso Martinez (born 29 April 1963 in Portugal) – is a Spanish painter.

Since the 80s, Martinez argues that humanity will find their spiritual reality. Martinez uses a very personal method of alienating his sitters in order to express allusions, possible questions or even criticism raised against the depicted persons, or at least against our perceptions of those people.

Martinez emerged during the Portuguese visual art’s Boom in the 80s[3] but on a personal and solitary way. This attitude turned him into an isolated case of the national artistic environment.

Being born in Portugal to Spanish parents he opted for the Spanish nationality in 1978. He studied Fine Arts at the Center for Art and Visual Communication, Lisbon, Portugal.

In 1984 was co-author of the Manifest of the Multi-instrumentalist Painting published in the Newspaper of Letters, Arts and Ideas on 26 June 1984. This manifest was accompanied by an exhibition at the University of Fine Arts of Lisbon, creating controversy among the new artists and critics, because was a denunciation against the empty NeoAcademy.”

In January 2011 one of his work – Portrait of Kurt Cobain – reached the second higher value in the sale of Contemporary Art at the Austrian auction house Dorotheum. In September 2012 another portrait of Kurt Cobain by Martinez was sold at Christie’s in London. In January 2013 in Warsaw one of his works – Diana – reached the highest value on auction at Forbes Millionaires Club.

Courtesy of the artist.

For more information visit the artist’s website here.