Martín Ramírez: His Life in Pictures, Another Interpretation

Retrospective exhibitions reveal what is important to an institution. They are in-depth analyses of an artist’s life, work, and point of view. At the Institute of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles (ICA LA), Martín Ramírez: His Life in Pictures, Another Interpretation revisits the story of the Mexican migrant who spent his life in state psychiatric hospitals against his will and without due process. The exhibition, comprised of nearly fifty intricate drawings and collages made by Ramírez, humanizes the artist, bringing the institutionalized to a new institution—one that does not criminalize or lock away but instead fully embraces, celebrates, and affirms. 

Located in the Los Angeles arts district, the ICA LA hits the ground running with this inaugural exhibition, raising poignant questions about migration, incarceration, and mental health. Highlights include Ramírez’s equestrian portraits, small-scale abstractions, and monumental landscapes, each characterized by the artist’s mesmerizing undulated lines and repetition of figures and forms.

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Originally published as part of the US Latinx Art Forum Micro-Review series. The exhibition was presented as part of the Getty initiative Pacific Standard Time: LA/LA, a far-reaching and ambitious exploration of Latin American and Latinx Art in dialogue with Los Angeles.