Justice For All, 2015 Martinez utilizes the visual language of advertising signage to recontextualize and reimagine slogans and phrases relating to current issues of social justice. The line “…and justice for all.” quoted from America’s Pledge of Allegiance, claims to be a guarantee for all, but in the face of deep racial division, and unequal treatment evident every week in the news, the line suddenly rings hollow—as if the neon slogan was only an empty promise from a slick advertising campaign. Daniel Kevin Harris, Michael Brown, and a young man being slammed to the floor while handcuffed in the Midwest, 2016 Martinez riffs on the classic design of Pee Chee portfolios for students. The original folders depict small groupings of Caucasian-looking young people engaging in sports and leisure activities; here the artist upends this care-free vision of youth with more sobering images of young men who have been killed by police and scenes of rough encounters with police taken from current events. This painting features portraits of Michael Brown (Ferguson, MO) and Daniel Kevin Harris (Charlotte, NC), and a young man being slammed to the floor while handcuffed.
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