Conduit Gallery is honored to present La inconformidad es un asunto de disfraces (Discomfort is a matter of disguises), an exhibition of recent oil on canvas and acrylic on paper works by HL Santiago Martínez.

While relocating to its new location, the gallery uncovered long-stored works by Martínez from the 1990s in its flat files. The discovery led to a reconnection with the artist and a selection of paintings from 2022 to 2024 for the exhibition. For Martínez, this reunion represents another form of magic, paths that in their missteps push us toward meaningful encounters.

Martínez's practice centers on images emerging from chaos. He describes his process as magicians appearing from an empty box with their colors,both joyful and dark. The work speaks while the artist recedes. There is no manifesto, only figures eager to communicate yet content in their solitude.

His paintings feature elongated bodies that occupy shared space but remain in separate worlds. The titles resist straightforward interpretation: Los gritos se ahogarán en la taza de café (The screams will drown in the coffee cup), Ni te escucho ni te veo como Político Mexicano (I neither hear you nor see you like a Mexican Politician). Together, image and title transform the everyday into something theatrical.