Martyn Cross
Image courtesy Martyn Cross and Hales Gallery ©Martyn Cross
Commissioned by Flatland Projects
Martyn Cross
Flatland Projects is incredibly excited to present a ‘My Assembled Selves’ a solo exhibition by Bristol based Artist Martyn Cross. Swelling clouds, aged turf and morphing figures populate the paintings and drawings of Cross. Within this presentation at Flatland Projects, personal, elemental and historic fragments assemble together, crafting a series of works which are untethered to any singular era, person or place.
Anatomical and terrestrial matter is submerged in a celestial veil, as divisions between the eternal and the ephemeral are diluted by Cross. Witnessed collectively, a sense of estranged self-portraiture emerges from this engrossing brew, as divergent facets of psychology, ecology, fable and history collage within each work. Like encountering depictions of untold legends, each work possesses distinct sensorial kernels— even if the tableaux presented to us are unfamiliar or strange.
Martyn Cross (b. 1975, Yate, UK) holds a BA in Fine Art from Bath Spa University. He lives and works in Bristol, UK. Cross has exhibited work at many galleries, nationally and internationally, including Hales London, UK; Marianne Boesky, Mew York, NY, USA; Ratio 3, Los Angeles, CA, USA; OSHSH Projects, London, UK; Modern Art, London, UK; Oceans Apart, Manchester, UK; Bath Spa University, UK; Spike Island, Bristol, UK; LIMBO, Margate, UK; Stroud Museum, UK; Kettles Yard, Cambridge, UK, among others. Cross' work is in the collections of the Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami, USA and NN Contemporary Art, Northampton, UK.
This exhibition has been generously supported by Arts Council England, Hales Gallery, Rother District Council and East Sussex Arts Partnership.
Instagram →
About Flatland Projects
Flatland Projects is an East Sussex based artist-led exhibition, education, and community programme founded in 2018 by artists Ben Urban and Billy Stanley in Hastings, East Sussex. Flatland’s core focuses are to support artists of an emerging stage of practice to reach new audiences, access funding, and to create collaborative ambitious projects with artists for the first time in their career. In 2019 Phoebe Cripps joined Flatland as an associate curator following on from her curated group show at the gallery Slippery Bodies which was part of the public programme of Still I Rise: Feminisms Gender Resistance Act II at the De La Warr Pavilion.
In 2022 Flatland Projects moved to Beeching Road Studos in Bexhill on Sea where it runs and deliver the exhibition and education programme in partnership with Rother District Council and the De La Warr Pavilion.