Denver artist Carlos Martinez, who died Aug. 16 at age 57, was a former director of the Chicano Humanities and Arts Council.
A memorial show of his vibrant monotypes is on display from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. today at the Chile Harvest Festival at Denver Botanic Gardens.
Born and raised in Baytown, Texas, Martinez attended Tulane University and transferred to Yale University, where he studied political science. He left Yale to join the Merchant Marines, in which he served for two years.
In the early 1980s, following a divorce, he moved to Denver and studied commercial art at the Community College of Denver on the current Metropolitan State College campus.
In 1996, he became the director of CHAC. There, Martinez established a larger-than-life reputation that matched his substantial 6-foot, 200-plus-pound physique.
Often gruff and taciturn, partly by nature and partly from the constant pain caused by diabetes, he intimidated as many people as he won over. Martinez exhorted nearly everyone who walked through CHAC’s doorway to become a member and a volunteer.
Most famously, he acquired Crystal O’Brien, who dropped by CHAC in 1997 when Martinez’s show of dog paintings caught her attention.
“We walked in, and I was looking around, going, ‘Oh, my God, look at all these dogs!”‘ O’Brien recalled.
“Carlos was like, ‘There’s 99 dogs. Ninety-nine blankin’ dogs.’ Only he didn’t say ‘blankin’.’ That night he started talking to us, and he would not let us leave until we signed up to be members and volunteers. ‘Here’s the membership forms! It’s not that much!’ And that was the beginning of everything.”
Fiercely loyal to CHAC, Martinez expected the same zeal from his recruits. He told volunteers that they had better be ready to clean the toilets and mop the floors, and made it clear that he expected sweat equity from everyone, from the director to the current neophyte.
Within a year of walking into the “99 Dogs” show, O’Brien and her family were working as volunteers at CHAC’s Chile Harvest Festival, pulling cups of soda and selling T-shirts. O’Brien went on to inherit the CHAC directorship from Martinez, and is still on the job.
“He came off as crabby and cranky, but when you got to know him, you found Carlos was very soft and loving,” she said.
As an artist, he was mostly self-taught, learning art by studying the works of other local artists, including Tony Ortega, Steve Lucero, Jerry de la Cruz, and Maruca and Daniel Salazar.
He used vivid colors and arrestingly simple lines, creating pieces that evoked a masculine Chicano sensibility, even when the subject was the violently pink portrait of a crew-cut youth.
His work, created in frenetic marathon sessions, appeared in galleries and eclectic venues throughout Colorado and New Mexico, including Denver’s William Havu Gallery and Goodfriends Restaurant.
“He’d work on art for 24 hours straight when he got these inspirations and start working on a series, like the dogs,” O’Brien said.
“A lot of the dogs, he told me, he didn’t remember how he’d done them. Once he came over to our house with this giant portfolio and told me to pick something out. I found this dog painting, and he said ‘I mean, anything but that one! I wish I could remember how I did that dog, but I can’t.’ The background was almost like tie-dye. Then he gave it to me. It’s wonderful, and everyone loves it.”
About five years ago, Martinez’s diabetes became incapacitating. He spent most of his days trying to get treated, exasperated by seeing more Department of Veterans Affairs paperwork than doctors.
He grew so surly and depressed that he alienated some of his old friends. Ortega and Sylvia Montero nicknamed him “Mr. Sunshine.”
His disposition improved dramatically after he underwent surgery last year. When his health began deteriorating recently, he told O’Brien that he wanted to donate his artwork to CHAC, with proceeds from sales going to CHAC’s program for children.
Survivors include his mother, Elvira B. Martinez of Baytown; brothers Albert J. Martinez Jr. and Joseph Martinez, both of Baytown, David Martinez of Houston, and George Martinez of Fayetteville, Texas; and sisters Eva Benavides, Maria Teresa Martinez and Lupe Garcia, all of Baytown, and Paula Eliaz of League City, Texas.
A memorial celebration will be held from 6 to 9 p.m. Sept. 24 at CHAC, 670 Santa Fe Drive, Denver, along with an exhibit of his artwork.
Staff writer Claire Martin can be reached at 303-820-1477 or cmartin@denverpost.com.
