As an artist, I am curious about how people live, the mechanisms of adaptation and decision making-processes. I want to question the apparently small conscious -and subconscious- choices that define our lifestyle, and look closely at the creative solutions in the survival mechanisms of everyday life. Food plays a key role, and usually the numerous connections of it are overlooked, I am interested in food as a vehicle to engage in a multi-sensorial dialogue that can reach out to current topics, such as immigration, labor, tradition, and access. I like when art and food are able to bring people together and expand beyond the primary experience of our own reality.
Manuel Molina Martagon is a multidisciplinary artist working in performance, video and social engaged projects. Molina Martagon holds a MFA in Photography, Video and Related Media from the School of Visual Arts in New York, and a MFA in Creative Writing in Spanish from New York University. His work has been exhibited in Mexico, United States, Spain, China and Cuba. His videos have been featured in festivals like Proyector Madrid, Region 0 The Latino VideoArt Festival, YANS & RETO, and Festival de Video Arte de Camaguey, and institutions such as the Institute of Contemporary Art in Philadelphia and Art Museum of the Americas in DC. Molina Martagon has also been a recipient of multiple international awards and grants, such as Fulbright-García Robles, CONACYT (Consejo Nacional Ciencia y Tecnología), Alice Beck Odette Grant, and PECDAP (Programa de Estímulo a la Creación y Desarrollo Artístico de Puebla). Since his arrival to New York, he has been a constant collaborator with the New New Yorkers program at the Queens Museum, and he is currently a fellow in More Art’s Engaging Artist program.
The 2019 season of the LES Studio Program is made possible, in part, by the generous support of New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council. New York State artist stipends are made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and the New York State Legislator.