Mario Martinez is Mars-1, and Mars-1 runs deep. A painter of mysteries and a believer in improbabilities, Mars is, as Mario is, a free-floating cultural enigma who brings a rare kind of revelatory uncertainty wherever he lands. He reminds me of my favorite drugs, which, by perfect chance, are his favorites as well. An epiphany of befuddlement, with the supreme clarity of derangement, he manufactures eureka moments that offer no answers but invoke a greater wisdom in the irrational sum of their vexing questions. Mars-1’s art is hard work; it takes him many months to make one painting, and the rest of us years to figure out what they’re about. Best as we can tell, they are careful examinations of…
