Martin Kinnear: Works From Regeneration

Martin Kinnear: Works From Regeneration

With deft brushstrokes and exuberant swathes of colour Kinnear elevates grittiness into something rich and magisterial …  Variously witty, beautiful and heartfelt and frequently all three.” (Cultured North East Jan 2020)

The Garden Rooms at Tennants is delighted to present ‘Works from Regeneration’ a show of smaller paintings executed by artist Martin Kinnear from 2019 to 2022 as he created his current major solo show ‘Regeneration’ which opened to critical acclaim from the BBC at The Bowes Museum, County Durham on 22nd January this year having been postponed for two years during the Covid-19 pandemic.

Hailed by The Bowes Museum as ‘The natural successor to Norman Cornish’ (Northern Echo Jan 2020) following his artistic residence at their landmark Norman Cornish retrospective, Martin was described as ‘a true painter’ by the director of the Paris Salon when he was awarded the Medaille d’Argent in 2018.  Indeed Boris Johnson, who chose his work ‘Backsteet Burnley’ to hang as a visual reminder of the Government’s commitment to levelling up the North, said “Martin’s work has been dedicated to showcasing all the North has to offer.  When visitors enter Downing Street I’m delighted they are greeted with a visual reminder of the Government’s commitment to ensuring every part of the UK can thrive. We’ll continue to support the arts to flourish as we build back better from the pandemic.”

‘Works from Regeneration’ is a unique opportunity to view and purchase works from this quintessentially Northern artist whilst they are still affordable.

About the artist
Martin ‘Lefty’ Kinnear (b. 1969), is an oil painter from the industrial valley of Burnley and Pendle in East Lancashire. His works about the people we have become and places we inhabit in post-industrial modern Britain, have won him international acclaim, including a prestigious Medaille d’ Argent at his first Paris Salon in 2018. Martin has exhibited with prestigious societies including the ROI, the RBA, at the Discerning Eye, several Affordable Art Fairs, and most recently again by invitation, in the 2019 Paris Salon with the Societie Nationale des Beaux Arts.

Paralysed on his left-hand side by a stroke at the age of 34, Kinnear is actively and passionately committed to the role of art in therapy and regeneration. Describing himself as ‘possibly the best one-armed painter in Wensley’ he is a patron of several stroke societies and champions personal development through art in his capacity as founder of the Norfolk Painting School.
The exhibition will be free to enter and will be open daily. For further details please visit www.tennantsgardenrooms.com.