RAINE 31

Enrique Martínez Celaya is an artist, author, and former scientist whose work has been exhibited and collected by major institutions around the world and he is
the author of books and papers in art, poetry, philosophy, and physics. He is the first person to hold the position of Provost Professor of Humanities and Arts at the
University of Southern California. He is a Montgomery Fellow at Dartmouth College, and a Fellow of the Los Angeles Institute for the Humanities. Martínez Celaya
has created projects and exhibitions for the State Hermitage Museum in St. Petersburg, Russia,The Phillips Collection,Washington D.C., the Museum der bildenden
Künste Leipzig, and the Pérez Art Museum Miami, among others, as well as for institutions outside of the art world, including the Berliner Philharmonie in Berlin,
Germany, and the Cathedral Church of Saint John the Divine in New York. His work is included in the permanent collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in
New York, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art in Los Angeles, the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York, the Moderna Museet in Stockholm, and the
Phillips Collection in Washington D.C., among others. His awards include the Roth Family Distinguished Visiting Scholar at Dartmouth College, the National Artist
Award from the Anderson Ranch Arts Center, the California Community Foundation Fellowship, J. Paul Getty Trust Fund for the Visual Arts, and theYoung Talent Award
from the Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Martínez Celaya was born in Cuba in 1964 and lives in Los Angeles, California. He studied Applied Physics at Cornell
University and received his Master’s in Quantum Electronics from the University of California, Berkeley and pursued a Doctorate degree before abandoning physics
for art. He attended the Skowhegan School of Painting & Sculpture, and earned a Master of Fine Arts with the department’s highest distinction from the University
of California, Santa Barbara.

RAINE:Talk about how your work as a scientist has influenced your career RAINE:What is the one misconception people have about your art?
as an artist CELAYA: A typical misconception people have about my work is the
CELAYA: Science provided me with a methodology and a toolkit with assumption that narrative and figuration define the work, when, in fact,
which to approach problems, as well as a view of the studio as a place they are manifestations of the ideas and aims animating my practice.The
where questioning, discipline, and discoveries, are more important than other misconception is that anything that suggests loss and displacement
production and markets. Also, I feel fortunate that by being familiar with, must be understood as a consequence of exile, when a closer look would
both, art and science, I don’t envy or strive for the success and authority suggest they point to more fundamental conditions.
of science, which is a controlling curse afflicting many in the arts and the What is one piece of advice that has served your well in your career?
humanities. Be suspicious of your cleverness.
RAINE: How did you make the leap from scientist to artist?
Images courtesy of Enrique Martinez Celaya CELAYA: I kept writing and painting while pursuing my studies in physics,
but by the late 80s, I was spending a lot of time in my makeshift studio
I had in a garage. At some point, my desire to pursue painting, writing,
and physics, became unsustainable, so in 1990, I went to a lighthouse in
Northern California to decide whether or not I needed to be an artist.
After that, I knew what I wanted to do, but not how to do it.The actual
transition took another two to three years.
RAINE: How would you like to be remembered in the future?
CELAYA: I value authenticity and the standards revealed by those lives and
works I admire, and I try not to settle into what is easy, familiar, popular, or
convenient. If a couple of people thought this is how I lived my life and
approached my work, it would be a fine legacy.
RAINE: Name three artists that you would like to be compared to?
CELAYA: More than comparison, I think in terms of demand—of who
places demands or challenges on me as an artist.Three of these are
Edvard Munch, Leonardo Da Vinci, and Czesław Miłosz.
RAINE:What is the emotional impact of your exhibition,“Nothing That is
Ours?”
CELAYA: It is hard to say anything useful about the emotional impact for
someone else, but, for me, emotion is inseparable from thought and from
the experience of confronting the work of art.The paintings in Nothing
That is Ours, seem at times to surrender to sentimentality or if not
surrender, at least accept sentimentality as a framework for experience.
At other times, however, the paintings resist sentimentality and dismiss
any intentions to understand the work as sentimental. I think the work
derives part of its emotional charge from the movement between these
moments—between sentimentality and its rejection.
RAINE:Where did you find inspiration for your current works?
CELAYA: I find inspiration in life, in what is happening around me, and also
in the artistic and intellectual questions the work brings up.
RAINE: Are there any other artists that you would like to collaborate with
either in art or another artistic discipline?
CELAYA: I have collaborated with two musical bands and with the Berlin
Philharmonic, and I hope to do more projects related to music in the
future. I have also worked with writers, architects, and other artists, and I
am open to more collaborations.
RAINE: How did growing up in Cuba shape your work as an artist?
CELAYA: I left Cuba when I was young, so I am not very familiar with
Cuban art or with the Cuban artistic tradition, which is why I don’t think
of my work as Cuban or even Cuban-influenced.There is, however, a
strong connection between my work and what I understand to be aspects
of the emotional lives of many Cubans. For instance, there is a tendency
for exiles in general, and Cuban exiles in particular, to be caught between
an irretrievable past and present that is often out of reach.

RAINE MAGAZINE - VOLUME 31 101









RAINE BOOK CLUB

By Barbara M. Donato

“The Milkshake Moment,” not only gives the ingredients to a delicious vanilla shake, it also gives the reader key tools towards effective
organizational growth. Steven S. - Little goes a step further than his previous book, “The 7 Irrefutable Rules of Small Business Growth”
where he talked about ways for the small business owner to expand. In “The Milkshake Moment,” you are given specific tools to spot
areas in your business that have the potential to be or are stagnant and how to overcome them.These tools help the reader to not only
identify their organization’s true goals, it also aids them in better understanding them. Mr. Little also gives great advice on working towards
those goals by solving interpersonal issues, making good judgement calls and dealing with customers in ways that will be exponentially
beneficial towards the overall mission of the organization.

One of the things that is great about this book is that it’s not a bland, “how to” guide that reads like a high school textbook. Mr.
Little brings a lighthearted air to his writing by applying different anecdotes using great visuals to get his point across. From his longing for
his milkshake at the end of each day to his eye-opening experience at an Apple store. It is written in a way that the reader can empathize
as well as understand the concepts within an organizational standpoint.

106 RAINE MAGAZINE - VOLUME 31

Difficult roads often lead to
beautiful destinations.

RAINE MAGAZINE - VOLUME 31 107

KEEP IT
REAL

PHOTOGRAPHER: Cesar Balcazar Black sequin dress: Manfredonia
ASSISTANT: ChrisNan Giraldo Shirt:THII; Earrings: Laruicci
DIGITAL RETOUCH:Victor Muñoz @ Mister Raw Studio
STYLING: Inside Studios
STYLING TEAM: Amalia Gallo, Lucia Gonzales Rubio, Maria Rosa
Di Pace,Yanina Caram and Yanina Wasinger for Inside Studios
HAIR AND MAKEUP: Olivia Velasquez

108 RAINE MAGAZINE - VOLUME 31

Dress: Mango
Earrings: Laruicci

Suit:THII
Dress: Romulina
Shoes: Girasole

Dress: Mango
Earrings: Laruicci

Metallic: Laurel Dewitt
Leather skirt:Vintage
Jacket: Levis

Sweater:Victoria Hayes
Sunglasses:Vintage Ray Ban
Boots: Jean Michel Cazabat

Note to self:
You gotta do this for you.
This is for you.This isn’t

you canabout anybody. Live for

you. Honor you. Never
lose sight of that.

Images courtesy of Art Basel

ART BASEL MIAMI

RAINE MAGAZINE - VOLUME 31 115











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