“I was always drawn to books; I feel like my life is like a sketchbook or a journal,” says Victoria Martinez , a Chicago-born abstract artist whose paintings, sculptures, and installations are filled with vivid colors that evoke the vibrancy of city life. “I feel, like, oftentimes, the different works of art that I create for the public and for shows, it’s like different chapters in my life.”

Works from Martinez’s latest chapter will be on view at the Poetry Foundation, in an exhibition opening September 20, in conversation with poetry from the late Peruvian poet Magda Portal. “Frente a la vida/Facing Life” is the result of a long relationship with the Poetry Foundation, dating to 2017 when the magazine featured work from Martinez on its cover—a bright work of primary colors and bits of

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