Background
Martínez was born in 1924, in Los Angeles, California, to Mexican migrant farmworkers.
Martínez was born in 1924, in Los Angeles, California, to Mexican migrant farmworkers.
He painted murals of his Mexican American heritage. In 1943, he enlisted in the United States Army and served as a unit medic in the European theatre of World World War World War II He participated in the Omaha Beach invasion in Normandy, France. He went on to serve in four major campaigns in Europe and received four battle stars.
Once the war ended, Martínez went to London to study at the Borough Polytechnic Institute (now London South Bank University).
He returned to the United States. in 1947 and continued his studies at the Chouinard Art Institute (now CalArts) in Los Angeles until 1951, lastly enrolling at the Otis College of Art and Design. Never earning a degree and due to his growing family, Martínez began designing lamps for a company in Van Nuys in 1956.
He worked for the company until the mid-1980s. In 1976, the Smithsonian Institution commissioned him and four other California artists to paint a mural for the United States Bicentennial celebration.
He traveled to Washington, District of Columbia, to complete his part, which depicted the early pueblo years of Los Los Angeles
He would go on to create large-scale murals for the 1984 Summer Olympics and Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport. One of his last works hangs in the Cathedral of Our Lady of the Angels in Los Los Angeles lieutenant is a layered mural of early 18th century life, mission-building and Catholic faith in California.
Martínez"s work over the years was characterized by constant evolution.