Mario F Bocanegra Martinez

Mario F. Bocanegra Martinez is a Mexican designer, educator, and artist whose work bridges motion design with experimental image-making. Bocanegra earned his BFA and MFA in Graphic Design from Oklahoma State University and currently works as an Assistant Professor of Graphic Design at the School of Industrial and Graphic Design at Auburn University.

His contributions to the field have been recognized with national and international awards, including a Gold Award in the 2025 Graphis International Poster Competition, the 2022 UCDA Excellence Award, and a Gold Award for Motion Graphics & Effects at the 2021 Horizon Interactive Awards. This year, his Tipográficos photo series was honored by the Society of Typographic Arts (STA) as one of the 100 best examples of typographic excellence. His typographic explorations have also been featured in the book Mastering Type (2nd Edition) and Slanted Magazine 2022 Experimental Typography issue #40.

Assemblage 1

Archival Inkjet Print, 2023.

42 x 59.3cm

$100

Assemblage 2

Archival Inkjet Print, 2023.

42 x 59.3cm

$100

Assemblage 3

Archival Inkjet Print, 2023.

42 x 59.3cm

$100

This series of three photographs uses an experimental, assemblage-based process that welcomes instability and subtle disruption. Each image comes from temporary setups of found materials like transparent, reflective, and porous objects, placed in front of the lens and lit by two light sources. These setups are short-lived and are changed repeatedly, highlighting impermanence rather than finality.

The photographs resist clear categorization. Although grounded in physical setups, they collapse distinctions between photography, collage, and object‑based practices. Scale becomes uncertain, materials lose their functional identity, and light operates as both subject and structure. Rather than clarifying form, illumination fractures it.

Throughout the series, small anomalies appear in the form of compressed fragments, soft focus, color shifts, or slight irregularities in repeated elements. These subtle differences make the images feel a bit unfinished and out of place. By using temporary methods and gentle misalignment, the work encourages viewers to look closely and spend time with what does not quite fit in.

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Mariota Spens