I am a contemporary abstract painter working within a lineage of lyrical abstraction. My practice explores perception, memory, and the natural world, favouring contemplation and emotional resonance over gestural immediacy or spectacle.

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Working primarily in acrylics, I build layered, textured surfaces through a considered and intuitive process. Rather than relying on spontaneous action, each painting develops slowly, allowing forms, colours, and rhythms to emerge through sustained engagement with the surface. This approach reflects an interest in how meaning accumulates over time — through memory, attention, and lived experience.

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My paintings are often informed by the natural world, not as representation, but as felt experience: light, atmosphere, movement, and the subtle shifts that occur between inner and outer worlds. The work seeks to create spaces for quiet reflection, inviting viewers to slow down and engage with ambiguity, stillness, and emotional nuance.

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One of the things I really like about lyrical abstraction is its mutability factor. You might have something in mind that you’re going to paint, but then spontaneity and intuition take over and the existential experience means that the painting tells its own story. And the outcome is generally much better than the original idea would have been.

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My university education in psychology also leads to a neo-surrealist focus on the subconscious and Carl Jung’s theories about the collective unconscious.

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All work is for sale and is generally sold unframed. Please contact the artist at lifedancer.publish@gmail.com for details.

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Currently exhibiting at several group art shows

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Come and visit me in my studio/gallery in Woollahra, NSW

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@martinguinness_artist​