ABOUT

Jarrad Martyn (b. Aberdeen, 1991) is an Australian artist based in Melbourne. His practice explores humanity’s relationship with the natural environment, and the framing and evolution of historical events. By responding to a wide range of imagery, from archival photo albums to found and artificial imagery, Martyn is interested in the movement of these images through time - how the legacy of symbols and motifs transform to produce a range of new associations in the present.

Through collapsing the distinctions between figuration and abstraction in painting, drawing, and collage, Martyn creates a state of flux - visually representing something that is not fixed and is constantly changing. By hindering precise representation and creating an ambiguous sense of place, Martyn encourages the viewer to shift between modes of thinking and looking, deducing links and deciphering their own conclusions about the events unfolding, and the symbolic meanings within.

Martyn's work is held in numerous public and private collections, including the Gippsland Art Gallery, University of Western Australia, Edith Cowan University, Curtin University, City of Perth, City of Joondalup, Shire of Mundaring, City of Yarra, Schmidt Ocean Institute, and St John of God Hospital Art Collection among others. Martyn has been awarded in various national art prizes, most notably winning the John Stringer Art Prize (2018), the City of Joondalup Community Invitation Art Award Overall Acquisitive Award (2017), the Fifty Squared Art Prize (2021), the Mayor's Award for the Nillumbik Prize for Contemporary Art (2023), and the People’s Choice Award for the John Leslie Art Prize (2024). He has also been a finalist in a wide selection of awards, commissions, and grants, including exhibiting at the Frost Museum of Science as part of Art Basel Miami (2023).

Martyn’s practice also extends into the public sphere, with large-scale commissions for council and commercial murals. His work can be seen in the Shire of Collie (WA), Rochester (VIC), City of Fremantle (WA), City of Swan (WA), and the Newman Hotel in the Pilbara (WA), among others.

SELECTED CV

EDUCATION

2023-2025
Masters of Fine Arts (Research), Victorian Collage of the Arts, Melbourne, Australia

2009–2013
Bachelor of Fine Arts (Honours), Curtin University, Bentley, Western Australia

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2026
THE MIRROR, Albany Town Hall, Vancouver Arts Centre, Albany WA

2025
UNDER THE WEATHER THE STORM Stala Contemporary, Perth WA
ECHO, Stockroom Kyneton, Kyneton VIC

2023
POLAR FRONT, Stockroom Kyneton, Kyneton VIC
SHIPWRECKED, Bargoonga Nganjin, Fitzroy North Public Library, Melbourne VIC

2022
DUST TO DUST, SEVENTH Gallery, Richmond VIC
RELICS, Linden New Art, Projects Space, St Kilda VIC
DAYDREAMS, Brunswick Street Gallery, Fitzroy VIC

2020
IT IS NOT DOWN ON ANY MAP; TRUE PLACES NEVER ARE, Stala Contemporary, Perth WA

2016
THE GOLDEN STATE, Turner Galleries, Perth WA
ABANDO, The Butcher Shop, Perth WA

2015
TYRANT LIZARD KING, PS Art Space, Fremantle WA

2013
CREAM 5, LOOKING THROUGH THE IMAGE, Emerge ART SPACE, Perth WA

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2026
Melbourne Art Fair, Arc One Gallery, Melbourne VIC
20: Stala Contemporary, Stala Contemporary, Perth WA

2025
The Fleeting Self - Summer Group Show, ARC ONE Gallery, Melbourne VIC
G/60, Gippsland Art Gallery, Sale VIC
Open Studios, Metropolitan Fukujusou, Kyoto JPN
Winter Group Show, Compendium Gallery, Melbourne VIC
Threshold, with Khashayar Salmanzadeh, Bangs Street Studio, Melbourne VIC
Autumn Group Salon, Stala Contemporary, Perth WA

2024
John Stringer Prize - 10th Anniversary Retrospective Invitational, John Curtin Gallery, Perth WA
The End of History, Lawrence Wilson Gallery, University of Western Australia, Perth WA
Atlas of Radical Hope, ClimArte, Melbourne VIC
Small, Stala Contemporary, Perth WA
Locals, Outre Gallery, Melbourne VIC
Masters of Fine Art Graduate Exhibition, VCA Artspace, Victorian College of the Arts, University of Melbourne, Melbourne VIC
Summer Salon, Stala Contemporary, Perth WA
I Had a Dream About This Place, VCA Art Space, Melbourne VIC 2023
Alchemy – NotFair Art Fair 2023, Melbourne VIC
Artist at Sea, Nautilus and Schmidt Ocean Institute, Frost Science Museum
Art Basel Miami Beach, Miami USA
Dirt, Stala Contemporary, Perth WA
The General Public, 99 Percent Gallery, Melbourne VIC
ClimArte, Forty Five Downstairs, Melbourne VIC
Linden Postcard Show, Linden New Art, Melbourne VIC
Joondalup Invitation Art Prize – 25 Year Retrospective, Perth W
Into the Pink, Stala Contemporary, Perth WA
Locals, Outre Gallery, Melbourne VIC

2022
Fragile Earth: Extinction, Gippsland Art Gallery, Sale VIC
Linden Postcard Show, Linden New Art, Melbourne VIC
TREE: Climarte, Forty Five Downstairs, Melbourne VIC Ensemble 2, Stala Contemporary, Perth WA
And Then There was Light, Bunbury Regional Galleries, Bunbury WA Belonging, Frankston Art Centre, Cube37, Frankston VIC

2021
Totemism: Climate Altered Species, Spectrum Project Space, Edith Cowan University, Perth WA
Ensemble 1, Stala Contemporary, Perth WA
Linden Postcard Show, Linden New Art, Melbourne VIC

2020
Painting the Screen, Nyisztor Studio, Perth WA

2019
Ritual, There is Gallery, Perth WA
Rottnest Foundation Art Exhibition, Holmes a Court Galler, Perth WA
Continuity and Change; Future, Mundaring Arts Centre, Perth WA
Mundaring Art Acquisitions, Mundaring Arts Centre, Perth WA

2018 
Reincarnation, Stala Contemporary, Friday’s Studio, Perth WA
Work In Progress, Stala Contemporary, Perth WA
Reset, Level Up Studios, Fremantle WA
The Clay House, Margaret River WA

2017
Placing the Periphery, Zig Zag Gallery, Kalamunda WA

2016
Finding Edges, Kings Street Artist Run, Melbourne VIC
Steal, Linton and Kay Galleries, Perth WA

2015
Heathcote Select, Heathcote Gallery and Museum, Perth WA