It helps that their work is very different, although related in its combination of abstract and figurative elements.
Theyre in constant motion, as is their maker.
(He does sculpture too.)
LEAN ON METhe couple, in front of work intended for Moyer’s Parrish show. “She’s a complete artist,” says Martinez about his wife. “She’s part engineer, part everything.”Photographed by Jason Schmidt.
Creative collaborations and artist relationships are something to celebrate, says Monica Ramirez-Montagut, the Parrishs director.
They have made a tremendous positive impact on the field of art.
Moyer and Martinez have been together for 17 years.
Martinez’s studio, with work for the Venice Biennale.
He calls them the Bufly series, adopting his sons pronunciation of butterfly.
Arthur became fascinated with butterflies when he saw one in the backyard of their weekend house in Long Island.
(They live most of the time in Brooklyn.)
WORKS IN PROGRESSA painting in Martinez’s studio (left) and one in Moyer’s (right).
Hes obsessive, like me.
The first Bufly painting hangs in Arthurs bedroom.
At her Bushwick studio, a few blocks away from Martinezs, Moyer shows me a 20-foot-long sculptural mosaic.
FLY AWAYMartinez’sBufly No. 38,2023
She continues: I want my work to exist in multiple realms at once.
Moyer is tall, funny, and 41 years old, six years younger than Martinez.
They moved from Chicago, where Moyer was born, to Los Angeles when she was five.
Marble slabs intended for Moyer’s future work.
And I always felt a little bit on the outside.
She had acquired a 35millimeter AE-1 Canon camera, which was always with her.
This led to the Yale School of Art, where she got her MFA.
She moved to New York when she was 24.
Martinezs childhood was almost wholly nomadic.
(His mother was 19.)
Both his parents were Brooklyn-born high school dropouts.
After that, it was Beverly, Massachusetts, where Martinez lived with his dad and finished high school.
By that time, he knew he was going to be an artist.
Its the only thing I can do pretty well, he tells me, laughing.
This is how I live and exist in the world, and Ill be doing it whenever, forever.
He was a visual learner but not so great at science, math, and other nonvisual subjects.
I didnt read when I was young, he admits.
I became what I am.
A lot of it was just surviving.
Inconsistency and uncertainty was my character.
I was uninformed and not finished.
Now at 46, I can pretty confidently say Im nearing the finish line.
The works I do see are for a show hes having at theGalerie Max Hetzler in Berlin this June.
And so is Martinez himself.
Moyer and Martinez met in 2007 outside a coffee shop in Bushwick.
He seemed like a real established artist, Moyer tells me.
He had his friends and he was so comfortable.
I found out later that this was the first year he could afford to be full-time in his studio.
They kept bumping into each other and pretty soon he asked her out.
She moved in with him a few months later, and they got married in 2011.
Eddie has brought me out of myself in many ways, Moyer says.
When I met him, I was tough and guarded and competitive.
Watching him be so authentic is incredibly inspiring.
Eddies work is much more of a relationship between him and the viewer than mine is.
With Eddie, its about him making the work.
With me, I just want to disappear.
I do not want my ego and persona and action around the work to be part of your experience.
Sam has always been ahead of the curve, Martinez tells me.
Shes a complete artist and crafts person.
Shes part engineer, part everything.
Her work is timeless and really beautiful, and its crazy.
I dont know how she can evoke so much emotion from such intense materials.
Were definitely each others sounding board and critic and supporter.
We work as a unit, Moyer says.
When I ask how they spend their spare time, both of them looked puzzled.
Were two workaholics who really cherish their studio practices.
Backing her up, Martinez says, Theres no separation between work and life.
Thats what was always attractive to me about being an artist.
The advantages far outweigh the disadvantages of being married to another artist for both Moyer and Martinez.
Empathy, shorthand, complete understanding, not having to overexplain, as Moyer puts it.
We just get it, says Martinez.
Does jealousy ever arise?
Im not afraid of owning up to my bad behavior, Martinez says.
I was sour about it, not feeling confident at all.
But we dont have an ongoing rivalry.
That would be insane.
Anyhow, theres no cause for jealousy nowMartinezs work is widely sought after in todays market.
So I have had to do the uncomfortable work of becoming more myself for these last 17 years.
