Martin Baran

Martin Baran is a Slovak-born artist whose practice moves between painting and sculptural object, examining how images of intimacy, leisure, and the body circulate within contemporary culture.

Trained in restoration and art history at Charles University in Prague after earlier studies in painting conservation in Košice, Baran approaches the painted surface with a sensitivity to material, illusion, and historical reference.

His work often oscillates between abstraction, photorealistic imagery, and intimate figurative compositions. Sun-bleached scenes of swimming pools, inflatable toys, and fragments of bodies evoke the visual language of Southern California while simultaneously reflecting on its constructed mythology of pleasure and freedom. Through these images Baran investigates how desire, leisure, and sexuality are mediated by popular culture and public space.

Working primarily with oil on linen and shaped supports, Baran treats painting as both image and object. The surfaces are frequently restrained in palette and scale, encouraging close viewing and a physical relationship with the work. The resulting compositions balance sensuality and ambiguity, allowing the body to emerge as both subject and metaphor.

Baran’s work has...

- Charles University in Prague, Czech Republic (History of Christian Art)
- School of Applied Arts in Kosice, Slovakia (Restoration and Conservation of Painting techniques)

Residencies

- Prague, Czechia (July 2022 - June 2025)
- Kosice, Slovakia (March 2020 - February 2021)
- Venice, Italy (April - May 2019)
- Florence, Italy (May - June 2018)
- San Juan, Puerto Rico (March 2017)
- Marrakech, Morocco (April 2016)

Group Shows

- ‘ A Modern High ‘, Janssen Art Space, Palm Springs, CA in conjunction with Palm Springs Modernism
(14 feb - 15 mar 2020)
- ‘ Elements of Time ‘, Janssen Art Space, Palm Springs, CA
(19 oct - 15 nov 2019)
- ‘ Shangri.la ‘, Janssen Art Space, Palm Springs, CA in conjunction with Palm Springs Modernism
(16 feb - 17 march 2019)
- ‘ Eroticity ‘, Janssen Art Space, Palm Springs, CA
(19 jan - 10 feb 2019)
- ‘ Permanent Vacation ‘, Janssen Art Space, Palm Springs, CA (18 oct - 21 oct 2018)
- ‘ 22 Pieces ‘, Janssen Art Space, Palm Springs, CA
(22 sep - 14 oct 2018) - ‘ MOD Squad ‘, Janssen Art Space, Palm Springs, CA
- ‘ Art in Play ‘, Bergamot Station, Santa Monica, CA
curated by Betty Brown (oct 2017)
- ‘ Season High ‘, Janssen Art Space, Palm Springs, CA
(16 sep - 26 oct 2017)
- ‘ Conception Art ‘, LA Mother, Los Angeles, curated by
Rachel Wilkins (June 2016)
- ‘ Fragments of Italian Frescoes ‘, Enoteca Centro
Kosice, Slovakia, curated by Rosana Bathoryova
(12 May – 12 November 2016)

Solo Shows
- ‘ DIGITAL DISPLAY ‘, Southern California Reproductive
Center, Beverly Hills, CA
(February 2017 – February 2018); Temporary Exhibition

- ‘ INNER FLOW...