Pepe Mar

Pepe Mar | Biography

Mar has become known for his sculptural collages, with their distinctive bright color palette and use of source materials from pop culture and ancient mythologies. Both his two and three-dimensional works have developed an immediately recognizable style, at once whimsical and sinister, always exuberant. This exuberance and frenetic energy is also present in his new body of work -a return to sculptural collage -and his latest endeavor has resulted in gem-like and whimsical wunderkammer..

Each of the wunderkammer or ‘cabinet of curiosities’ is full of found objects, African masks cut from magazines, and faces created from paper reminiscent of Picasso’s Les Demoiselles d'Avignon. Basquiat and Duchamp also come to mind- indeed Mar cites Basquiat and Warhol as informing his work. Like these predecessors Mar incorporates icons both appropriated and original, but in his case the imagery is imbued with personal themes of cultural alienation and materiality.

Pepe Mar received his BFA from the California College of Arts (CCA), San Francisco, in 2001, and his MFA from Florida International University, Miami, in 2013. The artist was born in Mexico, and lives and works in Miami, Florida, where he is represented by David Castillo Gallery. Mar’s work has been exhibited nationally, with notable exhibitions at Locust Projects, Freight + Volume, Gavin Brown Enterprise, and the Nada Art Fair. Pepe Mar’s work has also appeared in Sculpture Magazine, Artnews The New York Times, and Art in America.