Mario Martinez (1953) is a Brooklyn-based artist, educator, and member of the Pasqua Yaqui Tribe from Penjamo near Scottsdale. His tribe is the smallest of six Yaqui settlements in Arizona. Martinez is known for the fantastic imaginary worlds he creates. His works often reference physics, collective consciousness, mysticism, biological processes, Yaqui traditions, and the mystery of life itself. Martinez received his BFA in 1979 from Arizona State University, Tempe and his MFA in 1985 from the San Francisco Art Institute. He has taught in several Native American schools and served as a visiting professor at the University of Arizona in Tucson. Martinez has received commendations including a Robert Rauschenberg Foundation Residency (2014-15) and the Murray Reich Distinguished Artist Award from the New York Foundation for the Arts (2017). His work is held in collections such as the Smithsonian’s National Museum of the American Indian; the Tucson Museum of Art; and the Snite Museum, University of Notre Dame, Indiana.