Archive / Lost Series
Fragments of a Body of Work Lost to Fire
This body of work emerges from loss; the collapse of an entire collection erased in a single event.
Developed over two years, the series began as a response to severe burnout following the pandemic and the pressures of high-demand corporate work; shaped by betrayal, isolation, and a constant sense of urgency that kept life in survival mode.
In December 2021, a fire destroyed Camilo Martinez’s studio, reducing years of work to ashes and taking with it a full series of paintings. What remains is not the work itself, but its absence; memory, fragments, and the weight of disappearance.
The archive exists as both record and rupture; a trace of what no longer exists and a turning point within the practice. From that moment, painting shifted from production into reconstruction.
The fire did not end the work; it redefined it. What followed became a continuation built on resilience, where each new piece carries the imprint of what was lost.
THE FIRE
Reconstruction Study I Painted from Ashes
Melted Trooper 36×36” Mixed Media (charcoal, Acrylic) on Canvas 2021
This piece marks the return to painting days after the fire. Created entirely with salvaged materials, burned canvas, charcoal from the debris, black and white Plaid paint, and a recovered brush, it stands as a direct continuation of the work through its own remains.
The process is embedded in the surface; raw, reduced, and immediate. Limiting the palette and tools was not a choice but a condition, forcing a shift toward instinct and material presence. The image emerges from constraint, carrying the residue of the event within its texture and gesture.
Rather than a restart, the work functions as reconstruction; a first act of rebuilding using what survived.