Orion Martin

Orion Martin - HIGH ART
Orion Martin approaches painting with an eye for the uncanny and an affinity for the absurd. His surreal tableaus freely juxtapose aspects of trompe l’oeil figuration, Memphis design, schematic diagrams, architectural armatures and subtle nods to the Western art historical canon.

Such eclecticism stymies straightforward analysis of his mises-en-scène, while a fastidious attention to detail and bold embrace of saturated color collectively endow his works with a highly theatrical sensibility. Martin deftly navigates the conceptual space between narrative and nonsense, conflating objects and images to induce a reverie wherein bodies, symbols, mechanisms and spatial environments contrive to transgress the laws of conventional visual logic. In the absence of clear correlations among such disparate imagery, Martin’s enigmatic compositions invite subjective interpretations that amplify the intrigue of his oeuvre.

What is most unnerving and alluring about Martin’s works is their hybrid activation of analog and screen-based sensory paradigms. Illusionistic renderings of real-life imagery overlap with flat planes and floating forms, and visual variables of perspective and scale are manipulated to evoke the distortions of digital image processing. By altering the depth of field with which he depicts each individual element, Martin effectively subverts the high-resolution aesthetics of contemporary digital displays. Precisely executed figures and curvilinear latticed structures contrast with hazy backdrops of indeterminate origin; sensuous surface textures of leather footwear establish a tactile realism incongruous to the illustrative cross-sections that reveal mechanical and biological systems within eerily detached protagonists. Martin also undermines the structural integrity of the artwork’s screenlike presence by incorporating painted rivets, apertures and perforations that punctuate his imagery, further destabilising the picture’s representational function as a static signifier and introducing perceptual possibilities that perpetuate a hypnotic state of suspended disbelief.

Orion Martin was born in 1988 in Sonoma, USA. He currently lives and works in Los Angeles, USA. Recent solo and duo exhibitions include: Derosia, New York, USA; Potts, Los Angeles, USA; Corbett vs Dempsey, Chicago, USA; Favorite Goods, Los Angeles, USA; Important Projects, Oakland, USA. Group exhibitions include: Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, USA; Bel Ami, Los Angeles, USA; Tanya Leighton Gallery, Berlin, Germany; Rob Tufnell Gallery, Cologne, Germany; Galleria Acappella, Napoli, Italy; Galerie Éric Hussenot, Paris, France; BFA Boatos, São Paulo, Brazil.

Works

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Exhibitions

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Curriculum Vitæ

Orion Martin - HIGH ART
b. 1988 in Sonoma, USA
Lives and works in Los Angeles, USA

SOLO AND DUO EXHIBITIONS

2023
Faboo, Derosia, New York, USA
2021
Show of Hands, High Art, Arles, France
Pressure Head, Bodega, New York, USA
2019
Bolthole, Potts Alhambra, Los Angeles, USA
Tête, High Art, Paris, France
2018
Wind Tire, Bodega, New York, USA
2017
Corbett vs Dempsey, Chicago, USA
2016
Eczema Song, Bodega, New York, USA
2015
Shorb Street, Favorite Goods, Los Angeles, USA
2013
Small Paintings, Important Projects, Oakland, USA
2011
Tisch Abelow: Orion Martin, Manifest Exhibitions, Chicago, USA
Soft Laminate (with Sebastian Jefford), Horton Gallery, Berlin, Germany
Free Form (with Dorian Mckaie), Ing & Ing Gallery, Chicago, USA
2010
Minutes Away from Downtown (with Hudson Harrington Berry), Monument 2, Chicago, USA

GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2022
Red Herrings For The Category Spell, Hudson House, New York, USA
2021
New Nouveau, W Space, Qingdao, China
2020
New Nouveau, Mao Space, Shanghai, China
Open Air, 4-10 Sherri-foster path, East Hampton, USA
2019
Bolthole, Potts Alhambra, Los Angeles, USA
2018
Bloom, Bel Ami, Los Angeles, USA
Nothing Will Be As Before – Ten Years of Tanya Leighton, Tanya Leighton, Berlin, Germany 2017 Pharmacy for Idiots curated by Tanya Leighton, Rob Tufnell, Cologne, Germany
Condo New York, Bodega hosting Croy Nielsen (Vienna), New York, USA
2017
Pharmacy for Idiots curated by Tanya Leighton, Rob Tufnell, Cologne, Germany
Condo New York, Bodega hosting Croy Nielsen (Vienna), New York, USA
The last straw of our carrying, Species, Atlanta, USA
2016
Circumscriptio, Compositio, Receptio Luminum, BFA Boatos, São Paulo, Brazil
Let Love Burn In All The Lamps, Ms Barbers, Los Angeles, USA
Le domaine enchanté, Galleria Acappella, Napoli, Italy
Design & Crime, Galerie Éric Hussenot, Paris, France
Flatlands, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, USA
2015
Let’s Get Figurative, Nicelle Beauchene, New York, USA
Meanwhile in Lonesome Valley, Loudhailer Gallery, Los Angeles, USA
Kleenex Rose, Bodega, New York, USA
2014
Me and Benjamin, Galerie Xippas, Paris, France
HaFo SaFo, 3daysawake Gallery, Los Angeles, USA
Louie, Louie, Human Resources, Los Angeles, USA
First Responders, Good Work Gallery, New York, USA
Chillingly Chill, Sonce Alexander Gallery, Los Angeles, USA
I Can’t Fuck You Tonight I’m Reading Proust, Los Angeles, USA
2012
Fükengrüven, Bodega, Philadelphia, USA
2011
Tisch Abelow: Orion Martin, Manifest Exhibitions, Chicago, USA
Soft Laminate (with Sebastian Jefford), Horton Gallery, Berlin, Germany
Free Form (with Dorian Mckaie), Ing & Ing Gallery, Chicago, USA
2010
Minutes Away from Downtown (with Hudson Harrington Berry), Monument 2, Chicago, USA

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