Through the assemblage of found domestic and industrial objects, Martin John Oldfield explores materiality and personal narrative, responding to the unpredictable forces of chance through industrial processes. With over twenty years of experience repairing heavy equipment, hands-on tinkering and shed culture underpin a life spent fixing and re imagining things. His works are often laced with absurdity, serving as punchlines that invite reflection while sustaining a deeper dialogue with material histories and existential themes.

Oldfield was awarded the Foundations Mentorship (with Harrie Fasher) in 2025 and completed a Master of Fine Arts (Sculpture) at the National Art School, Sydney, in 2024. His work Hill End Junction #3 was a finalist in the Woollahra Small Sculpture Prize 2025; Stochastic Drawing was a finalist in the Dobell Drawing Prize #23; and he won the YawWay Sculpture Prize in 2020 for Dunnage Till Now.

His most recent solo exhibition was titled Revel-Making, at Hazelhurst Arts Centre (Gymea, Sydney), 2026. Other solo exhibitions include Purple Sky Trains, 2025 (Drawspace, Sydney), and Well That Was Fun…, 2024 (NAS Masters presentation). He has also exhibited in numerous group exhibitions including I Am Not My Father, 2025, at First Draft (Woolloomooloo, Sydney), alongside David Horton and Mitchell Davis.

Oldfield lives and works on the land of the Dharawal speaking people and is a sessional lecturer at the National Art School (Gadigal). Oldfield is represented by Art Atrium 12 Daniel St, Botany NSW 2019.

Revel-Making exhibited at Hazlehurst Arts Centre, 2026.

Image: Jessica Maurer