Menu
The New Contemporary Art Magazine

The Paintings of Orion Martin

Orion Martin applies a startling ability to play with textures, shifting planes, and focus to an unexpected assortment of objects and characters. His shifting between mediums adds to the guessing game of looking at a particular piece and attempting to dissect each element’s nature. He's often been linked to the representational artists under the Chicago Imagists moniker.

Orion Martin applies a startling ability to play with textures, shifting planes, and focus to an unexpected assortment of objects and characters. His shifting between mediums adds to the guessing game of looking at a particular piece and attempting to dissect each element’s nature. He’s often been linked to the representational artists under the Chicago Imagists moniker.

“Martin’s approach to surface and image is part of the heritage of Chicago Imagism as well as painters like Konrad Klapheck, but it is thoroughly contemporary and every bit Martin’s own, Corbett Vs. Dempsey says of the artist. “His paintings in the Whitney’s 2016 exhibition Flatlands posed penetrating questions about the nature of representation and illusion, taking each viewer on a wild ride from faux to real and all points between.”

See more of his work on Bodega’s site.

Meta
Share
Facebook
Reddit
Pinterest
Email
Related Articles
After years of practicing realistic portraiture, Korean-born artist Shin Young An decided it was time for a change. Her work was once focused on depicting her subject as faithfully and realistically as possible. She now moves beyond the surface and aims to engage politically with the viewer and motivate introspection, even action.
The vibrant work of Erik Jones takes an intimate step in a new series of images under the title “Armor” at Jonathan Levine Projects next month. The works mix acrylics, watercolor, pencil, water-soluble wax pastel, and other materials. Jones last appeared on the HiFructose.com here, and he crafted the cover for and appeared in Hi-Fructose Vol. 27.
In Ian Cumberland’s recent work, the painter adds sculptural and illusionary touches to his hyperdetailed portraits. The work also plays on the idea of portraiture itself, with screens and text underscoring a self-awareness in his work. Cumberland was last featured on HiFructose.com here.
Hazy figures walk towards the viewer in John Wentz's new series of oil paintings, their faces muddled as if conjured from some distant memory or last night's dream. His solo show "Passages," opening alongside Mike Davis's "A Blind Man's Journey" (see our recent studio visit with Davis here), is set to debut at San Francisco's 111 Minna Gallery on October 3. Wentz's work is optimally experienced in person. Playing with new textures, he steers his figurative paintings further into abstract territory, breaking down bodies into their basic components and exaggerating the ways light dances on them. Wentz deliberately calls attention to the paint itself, allowing pigments to bubble and burst and scraping away fine lines with a pencil. The results are disorienting and poignant, reminding us of the ways our own memories can be distorted and altered.

Subscribe to the Hi-Fructose Mailing List