Here are a couple of sneak peaks of details from my next NFT collection: Zodiac PFPs
These illustrations are designed to be used as high resolution profile pictures to present the owners star sign, or else to be collected like trading cards. a
These images continue my interest in combining different forms of symbolic imagery, and pushes forward my interest in colour palettes and graphic design sensibilities.
There will be several of each sign available for collectors, and will be dropping this Friday on Opensea.io/Gustav-sorbet
The first project I’m uploading is a set of illustrations inspired by the songs on Manic Street Preachers landmark fourth album, “Everything Must Go”.
As a teenager the Welsh band Manic Street Preachers were highly influential on my personal development. As with many teens I was enamoured by their complete package; appearance, musical sound, lyrics, album artwork and design… This was a time when one would physically hold the CD booklet whilst listening to the songs, absorbing the photographs, quotes and additional text, when music was not just filling silence in the background but an entire physical experience.
The works in my “Everything Must Go” series have been initiated in the year of the album’s 25th anniversary, and comprises of a suite of illustrations inspired by the lyrics of each song.
Below are selection of sketchbook images which informed the watercolour illustrations in the project.
As can be seen on this site, much of my work has often drawn influence from other artist’s, particularly- for reasons of technique and content- painters, however in the late 2000’s/early 2010’s I developed in interest in Damien Hirst.
Now, I admit to having been a sceptic and somewhat of a Luddite regarding art appreciation, which in many ways reactionary, however I realised that in fact my interactions with Hirst’s work are on exactly the same level as my interaction with many great paintings/ sculptures in that I am viewing the work through a reproduction, either on a page or a screen, it is not the original work but a digital/ ink reproduction of it with which I am familiar.
This acknowledgment compelled me to begin making paintings of the reproductions of contemporary conceptual or installation work by Hirst and Emin, which did not disavow but embraced the source by including lens flare, page numbers/ text, creases etc. But presented very much as a painting, not an attempt to produce a photographic representation by hand.
You can purchase this painting from my eBay store here
This diptych was developed from a double sided drawing made in a science textbook. The absorbency of the textbook paper results in ink bleeding through to be visible on the reverse side, when alcohol based markers are used. These marks would trigger a (frequently related) new image, the bleed from which could affect the original drawing and provoke further mark making.
Sketchbook drawings which inspired “The Conversation”
The two drawings I have here referred to in developing a painting struck me in there capacity to invite a narrative in the viewer, and a dialogue between to the two panels, my initial conception when approaching the painting being a title of “the conversation”, two people in there separate panels, possibly desiring contact but ultimately being alone (despite being together). The nature of drawing on both sides results in the setting being reversed, if both are viewed together we would appreciate this setting as being the same, but viewed from two sides. This simple fact suggested that perhaps both figures are indeed at the same place at the same time but separated by a barrier (wall/fence etc) as suggested by the relatively high horizon line). Two people alone, perhaps thinking they are individuals, noone else is like them, yet just over the wall is their equal. Possibly…
The final framed painting was produced using oil, acrylic, ink paints and varnish onto book pages which had been collaged on to two separate canvases, which are signed on the reverse side.
This painting is available for sale on my eBay store, with bids starting at £350.
A few years ago I began a series of studies after old master paintings of the mythological figure Bacchus. This character has recurred in my work throughout my career, most recently appearing in a number of works produced during my MA fine art studies at Grays School of Art.
Bacchus after Rubens, oil and collage on canvas , 21 x 15cm
The painting above was made around 2017 and produced using oil paint and collage on canvas. The aim being to capture the structure of Ruben’s original composition in broad strokes, concentrating on colour and over all form rather than details.
It is currently available on eBay, where bidding starts at half the price listed on my website. You can visit the listing at the link below:
“Cleithrophobia” (10x7cm) is a fear of being trapped. When insurmountable stress and anxiety gathers we can often see no way forward or out of a situation and dwelling on the issues at hand creates self perpetuating concentric circles of suffering.
One of a 3 part series combining elements from art historical images of Christ and the Virgin Mary in montages with other layered found elements such as flowers and drapery.
Around 2009 I began experimenting with Photoshop as a means to develop a more experimental approach to composition and colouring, that was not so much reliant on the strictures of reality. The digital montages I produced often served as a model for painting. My aim was not to replicate a smooth photographic surface, but to treat the montage as any other 3D subject to work from.
You can’t take it with you (blue)
You can’t take it with you (green)
My thematic approach to building these images was based on the still life tradition, particularly memento mori. The two paintings in focus here were based on combining found images of skulls with my own photographs of coins, illustrating the anti-hoarder maxim of “you can’t take your money with you when you die”.
The first of a new category of blog post, in which an available painting is picked out for discussion.
Cannibalising Courbet 3, 30 x 30cm, £125
Around 2016 I began a series of paintings combining elements of Courbet paintings into new compositions, and borrowing his motifs but recasting myself into the title role.
On the one hand this was a concerted effort to learn about the artists method of constructing images, from composition to lighting, tonality and colour, but was also a means of using previously existing imagery to construct a new narrative.
Very often I would choose a Courbet painting featuring one or more women, and combine it with a self portrait. This evokes themes of lust, longing and romance, but also the relationship but artist and model.
Matt Wells Art 