CONTEMPORARY ART STOCKROOM Michael Gromm

Michael Gromm’s relationship to his medium speaks of an open two-way process of making and unmaking, of the physical actions of painting and the emotional impacts of looking. These are tremendously flamboyant images, joyful and brash in their exuberance. Paired with the somewhat allegorical, sometimes nonsensical titles he bestows upon each one, they also speak of the absurd and superfluous acts, decisions and spontaneities that drive much of our human endeavour. Gromm’s large fluid paintings seek to suspend the viewer in a state of preternatural ‘nowness’ creating moments of visual and mental spaciousness, capable of encouraging creativity, reflection and calm within an increasingly complex and rapidly changing world.

I have an innate fascination with what is not known, and enjoy those moments when my eyes perceive things incorrectly. Those moments, usually out of the corner of my eye, when a few shapes or movements blend together to trigger a response from my consciousness. My works delve into the unknown and form unplanned, unending puzzles; a game of charades for both me and the viewer. However, among the puzzles there exists an overarching awareness that sets the direction of my works, and strikes a fundamental balance between letting the paint do as it wants, and making it do as it is told.
Artist Statement - Michael Gromm

Over the last decade, Michael Gromm has been refining his painterly vision, creating images featuring expressive swirls of colour anchored by figurative elements executed with illustrational accuracy. Through the prism of (mis)understanding, Gromm’s become works which oscillate with meaning when given half a chance.These are nothing like the abstract surrealism of Miro, or Klee. Nor are they the hyper-real surreal, as per Dali and James Gleeson. What they reveal instead is a new-world celebration of colour, particularly synthetic, toxic in its acidity – pinks, lime, orange – pigments that swoop and whorl against otherwise blank grounds. Gromm also employs multiple tools from fine sable brushes to squeegees, pouring multiple colours onto the canvas and ‘pushing it around.’
Extract from essay by Andrew Gaynor 2019

Michael Gromm holds a Bachelor of Fine Art degree from the University of Ballarat. He has been a finalist in the Geelong Contemporary Art Prize (2016), the Scope Galleries Art Prize (2012), the Metro Gallery Art Prize (2010), the Fletcher Jones Contemporary Art Prize (2008) and was announced the winner of the David Pratt Drawing Award (2001). Gromm was selected to exhibit in FLG’s Exploration exhibition in 2015 and was subsequently awarded the FLG Emerging Artist Award. FLG exhibited his work in a successful showing at Melbourne Art Fair in 2022. His works are held in collections in Singapore, USA and across Australia. He has been exhibiting with FLG since 2016.

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Media Highlights

I only take what I need but there is always more readily available at the supermarket 2023
acrylic on linen
180cm x 240cm
$14,000 AUD

Punk kids walking a dog 2023
acrylic on linen
111cm x 106cm
$4,700 AUD

I was raised by sitcoms 2023
acrylic on linen
106cm x 111cm
$4,700 AUD

We are collecting your dust 2023
acrylic on linen
111cm x 106cm
$4,700 AUD

Eating greeting dandelions 2023
acrylic on linen
106cm x 111cm
$4,700 AUD

Eggplant Gorilla 2023
acrylic on linen
86cm x 81cm
$2,700 AUD

The moon is flat 2023
acrylic on linen
86cm x 81cm
$2,700 AUD

Clowns for everybody 2023
acrylic on linen
86cm x 81cm
$2,700 AUD

The nepotism is already in place 2023
acrylic on linen
86cm x 81cm
$2,700 AUD

Catfished by a lonely celebrity 2023
acrylic on linen
86cm x 81cm
$2,700 AUD

Buy Porsche, drive Porsche. Buy banana, eat banana 2023
acrylic on linen
106cm x 111cm
$4,700 AUD

Either through a door or through the eye of a needle 2022
Acrylic on linen
150cm x 180cm
$8,000 AUD

7 acre rock 2022
acrylic on canvas
163cm x 133cm
On exhibition at the Pleysier Perkins Art Space
$6,800 AUD

Horse Crack 2022
acrylic on canvas
133cm x 163cm
$6,800 AUD

Meeting in the city sounds good 2022
Acrylic on canvas
92cm x 122cm
$4,500 AUD

Go there for three months and then come back 2021
Oil and acrylic on canvas
106cm x 91cm
$3,000 AUD

Moving through to the true 2022
Acrylic on canvas
122cm x 97cm
$4,500 AUD

Love the layered carpet patterns 2021
Oil and acrylic on linen
122cm x 107cm
$4,000 AUD

That's why rants work, gotta get it out 2022
acrylic & pencil on linen
80cm x 60cm
On exhibition at the Pleysier Perkins Art Space
$1,800 AUD

Vibrations deep in the earth will make you get out of bed at 6am 2019
oil & acrylic on canvas,
189cm x 159cm
$8,000 AUD

They wanted six hundred for the two weeks 2018
oil and acrylic on canvas,
183cm x 152cm
$8,000 AUD

Speared young tigers and single serve day trips 2018
oil and acrylic on canvas,
183cm x 152cm
On exhibition at the Pleysier Perkins Art Space
$8,000 AUD

mm.c.02 2021
Acrylic on birch ply
30cm x 30cm
$500 AUD

mm.c.04 2021
Acrylic on birch ply
30cm x 30cm
$500 AUD

Soothing LED time 2020
acrylic, pencil & collage on 300gsm paper, unframed
76cm x 57cm
$1,400 AUD