SPACE is delighted to announce the winner of the Valerie Beston Artists’ Trust Award 2024 is José Jun Martínez.

José Jun Martínez (Bayamón, 1992) is a London-based visual artist from Puerto Rico. His practice spans a decade of immersive contemplation in natural environments, translating his perceptions and memories into a language of painting materiality. He received a BA in Fine Arts from the University of Puerto Rico, Rio Piedras (2015) and an MA in Painting from the Royal College of Art in London, where he was awarded the Valerie Beston Artists’ Trust Prize (2024). His recent solo exhibitions include “Esto También Permanece” (Fundación Ángel Ramos, San Juan, 2022) and “El abrazo de las fieras” (Walter Otero Contemporary Art, San Juan, 2022) and upcoming shows in Galería Leyendecker, Tenerife; Matt Carey-Williams, London; and Ordovas, London.

“I paint places of encounter for ecological, historical, and poetic reflections that transcend location specificity, creating sensorial, conceptual, and emotional bridges of experience. Approaching the subjects from an immersive perspective, the paintings embody a sense of solidarity and a commitment to liberation. Coming from a land that, like many others, is continually threatened and exploited by political and economic structures, I insist on painting as an act of reaffirmation while holding the tensions between beauty and violence, praise and lament, celebration and protest.” JJM 2024