ANA I. MARTÉN was born on July 17th, 1961 in San José, Costa Rica, where she currently lives and works.

In 1979 she enrolled to study painting in the Universidad Autónoma de Centroamérica, and in 1980 she also enrolled in the School of Fine Arts of the Universidad de Costa Rica. She graduated from the latter institution in 1985, and obtained her Bachelors Degree in Fine Arts, with an emphasis on painting.

In 1988 she became a founding member of GRUPO BOCARACÁ, an important group of young Costa Rican artists who influenced significantly the country’s artistic context, during the last two decades of the XX Century.

During 2008 and 2010, she participated in different workshops in the Costa Rican Center for Cinematographic Production. (Centro Costarricense de Producción Cinematográfica)
In 1987 she had her first individual exhibits in the most important cultural centers of the time, such as La Alianza Francesa, Instituto Anglo Costarricense (“Corcovado”) in 1989, and Centro Cultural Costarricense Norteamericano (“Hombre Naturaleza”) in 1991.

She also exhibited her work individually in different galleries and museums, in Costa Rica and abroad:

1991 – Galería Kandinsky (San Jose, Costa Rica) 1993 – Galería Leo Blasini (Caracas, Venezuela) 1999 – “Uno y el Universo” GANAC Museo de Arte Costarricense (San Jose, Costa Rica) 2001 – “En proceso” Galería Nacional (San José, Costa Rica) 2006 – “Video creaciones 2003 – 2005” Galería Nacional (San José, Costa Rica) 2016 – “Geometrías – Colección de seis videoartes” Galería Nacional (San José, Costa Rica)     2016 – “Juego entre la forma y la materia” Casa del Artista (San José, Costa Rica)

Furthermore, she has been part of numerous group exhibitions in prestigious venues: Museo de Arte Moderno Carlos Mérida (Guatemala); Museo de la Aduana (Costa Rica); Museo de Arte y Diseño Contemporáneo (Costa Rica); Museo de Arte Costarricense (Costa Rica); Museo de la Carta (Fabriano, Italy); Museo de Arte Contemporáneo (Puerto Rico); Museo de Arte Contemporáneo (Panama); Museo de las Américas (Madrid, Spain); Museo de Arte Contemporáneo (Santiago, Chile); and also, “Muestra de Cine y Video Costarricense” in Centro de Cine (Costa Rica); Centro de Arte y Naturaleza (Huesca, Spain); “Loop” (Barcelona, Spain), “Invideo” (Milan, Italy); Museo de la Estampa (Mexico City); and in Seoul Arts Center (South Korea).
In 2003, parallel to her paintings, she began to develop her video arts, and her work in both of these mediums has received prices and recognitions throughout the last thirty years.