Chase Martin

My painting practice combines oil, acrylic and airbrush to integrate digital aesthetics into the material, painted image. Rather than rejecting the potential existential threat posed by the digital, my practice is interested in absorbing its aesthetics and processes. I reference the collage-like nature of the digital landscape, juxtaposing elements rendered in a variety of visual languages. Within these paintings I faithfully reproduce photographic images, render repeating imagery, and paint lines that reference digital airbrush tools. 

For a time, my practice was dependent on faithfully copying the unique intricacies of digital aesthetics directly from the screen. In recent years my process has shifted so that producing these digital mannerisms has become second nature to my hand. This shift arose out of necessity given that chronic migraines have left me unable to look at a traditional digital screen. My body acts as a pseudo-computer, mechanically generating material images that appear digital in origin. 
 

Born in Manitoba, Chase Martin has established a painting practice supported by grants awarded by Canada Council for the Arts (2023) and the Winnipeg Arts Council (2023). His work has been exhibited in solo shows at La Maison des Artists (is a bird is a plane is a man, 2021) and the Centre Culturel Franco-Manitobain (Green Green Grass, 2023). 

Chase received his BFA with Honours from the University of Manitoba in 2021. His graduate studies are supported by a scholarship from la Fondation Baxter & Alma Ricard.

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