Aaron Martin
Double Monochromes
31.10.18 – 24.11.18

Double Monochromes considers the critical conditions under which a monochrome painting can be made. All the works present large fields of uniform and unbroken hue, aligning with a general understanding of a monochromatic work. Yet each field has various degrees of light refraction: some present with a velvet-matte finish and others offer a high, almost industrial, gloss surface. The works share a similarity in composition, each contains two differentiated fields — a doubling of blacks, greys, or moments of colour — that occupy equal halves of the painting area. Colour also resides, on many of the works, as an expressive fringe and performs in a distinct, yet poetic, contrast to the double monochromatic fields.

Aaron Martin has been consistently exhibiting his paintings, drawings and sculptural works since 1998. Recent curated exhibitions include: Abstraction Twenty-Eighteen, 2018, co-curated by Wilma Tabacco, Stephen Wickham and Stephen McLaughlin, Langford 120, Five Walls & Stephen McLaughlin Gallery; Black, White & Red, 2018, Justin House Museum; Group Formalism, 2017, curated by Jeremy Gales, Bundoora Homestead Art Gallery; Otherside , 2015, co-curated by Michael Brennan & Paul Batt, Counihan Gallery; Transported, 2014, curated by Richard Ennis, Incinerator Art Gallery. He was a finalist in: the John Leslie Art Prize (2002, 2008), Paul Guest Art Prize (2014), Incinerator Art Prize (2017), Churchie Art Prize (2011). He was awarded art residencies at: St Vincents Hospital (2010), Ballilla House, Brighton (2011), Poh Chang University, Bangkok (2013) and Naresuan University, Phitsanulok, Thailand (2013). He lectured in painting and drawing at: Melbourne School of Art (2001-06) and Swinburne University (2005-12). He was a committee member of Trocadero Art Space (2008-2010) and Vice-President (2010-2015). In 2012 he founded Five Walls Projects, Footscray, where he is the current Director. He graduated with a Master of Fine Arts in Visual Arts (by research) from the Victorian College of the Arts in 2017. His work is held in the Deakin University, St Vincents, Justin House Museum and many private collections across Australia.

www.aaronmartin.com.au