Eden Martinez (b. New York, 1992) is a self-taught contemporary artist living and working in Poughkeepsie, NY. Working primarily in oil and mixed media, her practice explores emotional expression as both necessity and connection. Rooted in her personal difficulty communicating emotions verbally, Eden’s work emerged as a means of translation—transforming internal experiences into visual language. Her paintings navigate vulnerability, intimacy, and the complexities of being human, functioning as a lifeline between the artist and the viewer.

Eden’s work centers on striking representations of primarily Black women and children situated within colorful, abstract environments. Through these figures, she explores narratives of love, trauma, healing, and the layered emotional landscape of the human experience, while also challenging dominant societal definitions of Black identity. Her paintings function as a poetic form of documentation—capturing both personal and collective stories.

Working primarily in oil and mixed media, Eden combines a realist approach to the human figure with surreal, collage-like abstractions in her compositions. She frequently incorporates a mixture of Payne’s Gray and white into areas of her figures to symbolize loss, particularly the loss of innocence experienced over time. Recurring imagery of red string tied to her figures’ fingers references the “red string of fate,” a symbol of destiny and inevitability. In Eden’s work, these strings are often severed or left unattached, representing an act of resistance and the reclamation of agency.

By merging the emotional rawness of abstraction with her reverence for traditional academic painting, Eden has developed a visual language that reflects her inner world with honesty, vulnerability, and intention.

GROUP EXHIBITIONS:

•  2021- Bethany Arts Gallery “Black History And Culture” (Ossining, NY)

•  2022- Bethany Arts Gallery “Black History And Culture” (Ossining, NY)

  • 2021- Riverfront Art Gallery “Ubuntu” (Yonkers, NY)

  • 2022- One Art Space “NFinite Art Show” (Manhattan, NY)

  • 2022- Riverfront Art Gallery “Momento Mori” (Yonkers, NY)

  • 2024- Kente Royal Gallery “Stronger together” (Harlem, NY)

  • 2025- Bethany Arts Gallery “Black History and Culture: Eyes Wide Open” (Ossining, NY)

  • 2025- Band Of Vices “Dear Artists” (Los Angeles, CA)

SCREENINGS:

  • “Run The World” (STARZ)