Eddie Martinez: Seaport Shuffle

Seaport Shuffle is a monumental painting by Eddie Martinez on view in The Paseo in Boston’s Seaport. Dense and improvisational, it reflects the restless energy that has run through his practice for more than two decades, moving freely between abstraction and figuration. Fragments of imagery recur, mutate and resurface across the surface, including his signature Donald Duck-like figure and a nod to an artist’s palette, all set within a crowded accumulation of color and gesture.

The work also draws on Martinez’s history with movement. After a childhood spent moving around the United States, drawing became the constant he could carry anywhere and eventually the engine of his art. Made specifically for the Seaport, the painting turns that biography into jostling forms and shifting rhythms meant to evoke a neighborhood defined by circulation and convergence. As a public art installation, it can be seen by anyone passing through The Paseo.

What to Know

• The installation marks a homecoming: Martinez got his start in Boston as an art handler at the ICA and the Rose Art Museum.
• Martinez is described as internationally acclaimed and one of today’s most celebrated painters.
• The Donald Duck-like character is one of several cartoonish figures that have populated his drawings and paintings for years.