Newmarch Gallery. 27 Aug 2025
Automotive production was prolific in Australia throughout the entirety of the twentieth century, and it wasn’t until Elizabeth’s remaining Holden factory closed its doors in 2017 that our state farewelled local car manufacturing for good. Now, in the light-filled expanse of Newmarch Gallery in Prospect, Matthew Fortrose is dissecting the forms and components at the very core of car production. In his aptly titled exhibition CHASSIS, Fortrose has balanced meticulous design with remarkably well executed workmanship, forming a striking survey of vehicular skeletons.
Whilst his intentions behind this new body of work is to utilise the car as a metaphor for visual transportation along a pathway “from A to B”, I can’t help but equally read it as a love letter to the modes of transport we rely so heavily on in contemporary society. An ode to cars, if you will, that places a lens on the very processes and techniques that bring them to life. As the support beams and silhouetted shapes journey across the landscapes of his works, there is an underpinning of product design appreciation, and a deep desire to accurately represent the artistic components of manufacturing. This makes sense when looking at Fortrose's past projects, for example his residency at JPE Design Studio (supported by Guildhouse) in 2022, which saw him combining concrete with EPDM rubber. The works produced in that residency – titled Safety Measures – were an array of hard and soft surfaces, with the artist examining their limitations as physical objects, testing their archival qualities from a safety lens as both indoor and outdoor infrastructure materials.
Left to Right: Camberveil.3 (2025), Camberveil.2 (2025), Camberveil.1 (2025). All composed of aluminium composite panel, underbody coating, primer, acrylic paint, and green-glass polymethyl methacrylate. 220MMW x 1350MMH, photo Chira Grasby
As with Safety Measures, CHASSIS seems to be informed by dedicated research and understanding of materiality, particularly those utilised in urban infrastructure. The threads that hold our architecture, transport, and man-made environments together are woven thoughtfully by Fortrose’s hands, then carefully transitioned from workshop to gallery. This gravitation towards urban spaces and industrial visuals is deeply rooted in his origins as a street and graffiti artist. By nature of creating art in public spaces, whether as a guerilla act or commissioned maker, one becomes accustomed to the overlooked corners of the city or under-appreciated facets of mass-produced objects. Having spent time immersed in the streets of both Adelaide and London, Fortrose provides unique insight into the fabric of our metropolitan terrain.
Wishbone.2 (2025) and Wishbone.3 (2025). Both are composed of aluminium composite panel, underbody coating, primer, acrylic paint, and green-glass polymethyl methacrylate. 627MMW x 795MH, photo Chira Grasby
Layered painting assemblages bombard viewers with satisfying colour schemes of aluminium composite and uniform metal hardware, held together by exposed frames that, though lightweight in appearance, form the sturdy backbones that support them. These wall-based works are positioned as panels, reminiscent of model making kits with vaguely sprue-like integrations. They feel like many parts of a whole, waiting patiently to be ‘popped’ out of their confines and clicked into one another in hopes of achieving their final form. Yet, their bold delineations appear to overlap and layer on the manufactured canvas, bringing into question their functionality outside of current presentation. Something about the clustered moments in Fortrose’s Wishbone trio seem vaguely structural, like scaffolding rested precariously around street detritus, or skip bin paraphernalia on an unassuming alleyway. These two-dimensional renderings of potentially physical props hark back to the artist’s time spent navigating city streets. The ‘journey’ explored in his works could be read as documentation of his own movements, as well as those suggested by the many shapes sitting upon his works.
Installation view of Wall painting (2025), 3 x 3.5m, and DragRail1 (2025), mild steel, zinc fixtures, epoxy primer, polyurethane enamel, and 1988 Saab 900 disc rotors, 1.2 x 4.2m, photo Chira Grasby
Scale has been fully explored by Fortrose, with configurations that span from detail oriented to the grandiose – highlighted by a feature mural painting plastered on one of the southern walls, loudly merging the exhibition with the architecture of the building.
Detail view of DragRail1 (2025), photo Chira Grasby
Nearby, a shallow plinth presents a small stack of zine booklets, serving as keepsake accompaniments to CHASSIS. From the front cover it’s immediately clear that design comes naturally to Fortrose, with the feature graphic being a detailed, informative diagram of a conventional car body, measurement specifications and all. Inside, beyond a terrific foreword by South Australian writer Anna Zagala, the pages guide us through the wall-based components of the exhibition. All presented as paired back diagrams of their real-life counterparts, they’ve been printed in the same red hue as Fortrose’s sculptural work. The attention to detail in these diagrams is commendable, with specifics recorded for the gauge and torque of all hardware used throughout. This, in particular, is worth highlighting, because it builds on the traditional format of artwork description to incorporate something often only associated with manufacturing or industrial production. This booklet transcends traditional floor sheet and teeters on the edge of ‘handbook’ – like the weighty owner manuals that come stock standard with all new cars. It shares a segmented insight into not just the materials that comprise Fortrose’s art, but also how he used those materials, and to what extent.
CHASSIS accompanying booklet, printed and designed by Matthew Fortrose (2025),
photo Chira Grasby.
Standing back the exhibition could believably be the result of a soft-hued baby born from parents Duchamp and Mondrian. A little sprinkle of functional assemblage bordering on the impractical, with the contrast of gridded confines and block panel formatting. A harmony between expanded field painting and physical graphic design is created, shifting from Fortrose’s predecessors and into new territory. The foundation of mural painting and graffiti text is apparent in the many practical decisions within the works, and an unmistakably successful exhibition is the result.
Chiranjika Grasby
When: 22 Aug to 20 Sep 2025
Where: Newmarch Gallery, Payinthi 128 Prospect Rd, Prospect SA
More info: https://www.newmarchgallery.com.au
Matthew Fortrose, Wishbone.1 and Wishbone.2 (detail), 2025
Newmarch Gallery
Image credit: Matthew Fortrose
