'all artists need a crucible through which their art is formed. The liminal tension in Britiain between tradition and change defines my work '

Martin Kinnear is a British oil painter and writer. Born and bred in the working class area of Burnley and Pendle, his work explores themes of, resilience, change and regeneration.

Kinnear creates bodies of work in oil, in words and using places, to tell stories about modern day Britain, and how we have become whom we are.

Artist's Statement

My work explores themes of, recollection, change and regeneration. I document the story of life in modern day Britain, and how we have become whom we are.

I do not work from direct sources, chronologically or topographically; rather my paintings are assemblages of memory and about how it seems to me to live here, now, and in our time. They are orchestrated fragments of our shared cultural experience.

Latest News

Norman Cornish Artist In Residence: In recognition of my forthcoming solo show Regeneration ( opens Winter 2020), The Bowes Museum County Durham have appointed me as Artist in Residence for their current retrospective on the pitman painter Norman Cornish. I'll be working at The Bowes through the show as well as in the ex mining communities around Spennymoor to create a visual record of the communities and landscapes which informed Cornish's works for Regeneration

Paris Salon

Salon Success: After scooping the Medaille d'Argent in 2018 I've been re-selected for the prestigious Societie Nationale des Beaux Arts, Paris Salon 2019.

Forthcoming Shows

Regeneration: I'm thrilled to announce that my current project Regeneration which documents life in the North of England through my heritage as a working class man and my uneasy relationship with the privileged subtext of Modern British painting, will be shown at The Bowes from Nov 2020 - Feb 2021.

Martin Kinnear

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