Martin Kinnear, (born 1969, Burnley; lives and works in London, UK) is a disabled contemporary painter currently completing an MA in painting at the RCA London.

I am driven to paint monumental figures that appear as I work, and they might well be self-portraits, although I never intended them to be self-referential. By distilling forms into their essence, my paintings are sculptural in intent, pursuing a Modernist project of finding a ‘Universal’ figuration that transcends the confines of representational art.

In my current RCA work, I obsessively explore contemporary figuration as a space where figural painting is sublated into and back from abstraction. Using expressive figure drawing as a point of departure, I develop ambiguous works in which background, foreground, and subject are in flux, creating paintings that both have and offer agency.

My process begins with expressive figure drawing, which serves as a foundation for creating intricate and ambiguous works. In these images, the boundaries between the background, foreground, and subjects become fluid, allowing the viewer to experience a dynamic interplay that evokes both movement and stillness, giving the paintings a powerful sense of agency.

Nevertheless, I am drawn to Baroque art for its dramatic quality that speaks of the human condition. By juxtaposing this with a Modernist reductive approach to figuration, I create pareidolic surfaces upon which figural painting is sublated into and back from abstraction.

Throughout my work, the suggestion of the human form emerges and dissolves through layered mark-making. These marks reflect the complexities and nuances of identity, memory, and perception, revealing the elusive nature of our existence.

My compulsion to capture presence and absence stems from my personal journey of recovery after enduring a devastating brain injury. Through my practice, I aim to express a profound understanding of the impermanence of life and celebrate the beauty that lies within imperfection, portraying my experience of resilience and transformation.