Dad Jokes and Scapegoats

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.