San Francisco-based artist, Mario Martinez (aka MARS-1) is an emerging painter and visual artist, with roots in West Coast graffiti art. Working primarily on canvases and in sculpture, his unique style has been described as urban-Gothic, a dimensional grid of self-echoing harmonics, and sci-fi abstracted, quasi-organic form. Shown in galleries throughout the United states. MARS is an active figure in the Bay Area art scene. He lives in the lower Haight with his artist-wife, Mikas, and several curious cats.

"My style stems from a living dream. My imagination conjures an alien landscape that exists somewhere in the space of my mind. Early inspirations that are a big foundation for me are comic characters (Spiderman, Wolverine, Nexus and Garbage Pail Kids), animation, Transformer toys as a child, graffiti art, extraterrestrials, a deep interest in ufology, unexplored life, the mysteriousness of the universe, and the abstract qualities of existence"