Orion Martin
Orion Martin
b. 1988, Sonoma, CA
Lives and works in Los Angeles, CA
Orion Martin’s paintings mine histories of visual culture to engineer wild hybridizations, often employing the human figure as a site at which varying optical and perceptual models coincide. In Martin’s work, the technological and the organic, the social and the natural, the external and the internal, enter a set of complex, serpentine spatial relations, visually unified by the artist’s rigorous execution. Through their defiance of physical causality, Martin’s images also collapse cultural hierarchies and historical linearity, organizing a breadth of references with agility and irreverence. Staged within a theatrical, compressed space, the resulting images range from intricate studies in contrasting visual information, to futuristic proposals implicating technology, evolution, and desire.
EDUCATION
| 2011 | U.D.K. Berlin Germany |
| 2010 | BFA School of the Art Institute of Chicago |
| 2008 | San Francisco Art Institute |
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
| 2023 | Faboo, Derosia, New York, NY |
| 2022 | Show of Hands, High Art, Arles, France |
| 2021 | Pressure Head, Bodega (Derosia), New York, NY |
| 2019 | Tête, High Art, Paris, France |
| 2018 | Wind Tire, Bodega (Derosia), New York, NY |
| 2017 | Corbett vs Dempsey, Chicago, IL |
| 2016 | Eczema Song, Bodega (Derosia), New York, NY |
| 2015 | Shorb Street, Favorite Goods, Los Angeles, CA |
| 2013 | Small Paintings, Important Projects, Oakland, CA |
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
| 2024 | The Return of Histoire Naturelle, Chez Max et Dorothe, Seillans, France |
| 2022 | Red Herring for the Category Spell, curated by Drew Gillespie of BOBO, Hudson House, Hudson, NY |
| 2021 | New Nouveau, W Space, Qingdao, China |
| 2020 | New Nouveau, Mao Space, Shanghai, China Open Air, 4-10 Sherri-foster path, East Hampton, NY A group of more or less than ten, Winter Street Gallery, Edgartown, MA |
| 2019 | Bolthole, Potts, Los Angeles, CA |
| 2018 | Bloom, Bel Ami, Los Angeles, CA 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 (Derosia) hosting Croy Nielsen (Vienna), New York, NY The last straw of our carrying, Species, Atlanta, GA |
| 2016 | Circumscriptio, Compositio, Receptio Luminum, BFA Boatos, São Paulo, Brazil Let Love Burn In All The Lamps, Ms Barbers, Los Angeles, CA Le domaine enchanté, Galleria Acappella, Napoli, Italy Design & Crime, Galerie Éric Hussenot, Paris, France Flatlands, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY |
| 2015 | Let’s Get Figurative, Nicelle Beauchene, New York, NY Meanwhile in Lonesome Valley, curated by Sayre Gomez, Loudhailer Gallery, Los Angeles, LA Kleenex Rose, Bodega (Derosia), New York, NY |
| 2014 | Me and Benjamin, curated by M+B, Galerie Xippas, Paris, France HaFo SaFo, curated by Ross Caliendo and Andrew Cannon, 3daysawake Gallery, Los Angeles, CA Louie, Louie, curated by Sam Davis, Human Resourses, Los Angeles, CA First Responders, curated by Zach Smith, Good Work Gallery, New York, NY Chillingly Chill, curated by Santi Vernetti, Sonce Alexander Gallery, Los Angeles, CA I Can’t Fuck You Tonight I’m Reading Proust, curated by Parker Ito and Liv Barrett, Los Angeles, CA |
| 2012 | Fükengrüven, Bodega (Derosia), Philadelphia, PA |
| 2011 | Tisch Abelow : Orion Martin, Manifest Exhibitions, Chicago, IL Soft Laminate (with Sebastian Jefford), Horton Gallery, Berlin, Germany Free Form (with Dorian Mckaie), Ing & Ing Gallery, Chicago, IL |
| 2010 | Minutes Away from Downtown (with Hudson Harrington Berry), Monument 2, Chicago, IL |
LECTURES
| 2018 | Painting and Drawing Visiting Artist, School of the Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL |
SELECTED PRESS
Surreal Things, Travis Diehl, Art in America, April 2022, Print
Orion Martin at Bodega, Nathaniel Lee, Turning Point, April 23, 2021
Orion Martin & Alexandra Noel, ‘Bolthole’, Jonathan Griffin, Frieze, October 19, 2019
Orion Martin and Alexandra Noel at Potts, KCRW, November, 2019
Bloom, Mona Varichon, Artforum, October 4, 2018
Orion Martin at Bodega, Contemporary Art Writing Daily, June 18, 2018
Interview with Orion Martin, Christopher Schreck, Kaleidoscope Magazine, Spring/Summer 2018, Print
Orion Martin, Rebecca Storm, The Editorial Magazine, Issue 18, May 2018, Print
Condo New York, Evan Moffitt, Frieze, October 2017, Print
Portrait: Orion Martin, Alex Bennet, Novembre Magazine, May 2017
Interview: Orion Martin, Chrisopher Schreck, Sex Magazine, January 2017
The New Guard: 30 Young Artists to Watch, Kat Herriman, Cultured Magazine, Winter 2016, Print
Exercises in Style, Eli Diner, Frieze Magazine, Issue 180, June–August 2016, Print
Orion Martin, Novembre Magazine, Spring/Summer 2016, Print
Karen Rosenberg’s Picks From NADA New York 2016, Karen Rosenberg, Artspace, April 26, 2016
Five Must See Gallery Shows in New York, Scott Indrisek, Blouin ArtInfo, March 16, 2016
Armory Week Must See: Orion Martin, Kaleidoscope, March 4, 2016
Dealing in Contradictory Illusions, Ken Johnson, New York Times, January 29, 2016, Print
On Stable Ground, Laura Phipps and Elisabeth Sherman, Whitney Museum of American Art, January 2016
Flatlands, The New Yorker, January 2016
Flatlands, The Lookout, Art in America, January 2016
Preview: “Flatlands” at the Whitney, Fan Zhong, W Magazine, January 15, 2016
Flatlands, Howard Halle, Time Out New York, January 5, 2016
Americanicity’s Paintings, Tracy Jeanne Rosenthal, Contemporary Art Review LA, August 9, 2015
The residents of “Lonesome Valley” play well with one another, David Pagel, Los Angeles Times, July 8, 2015
Maid in Heaven / En Plein Air in Hell (My Beautiful Dark and Twisted Cheeto Problem), The Metropolist, August 12, 2014
Tisch Abelow and Orion Martin at Manifest Exhibitions, Stephanie Cristello, F News Magazine, October 27, 2011
PUBLIC COLLECTIONS
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, NY
Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami, FL