Tag: art gallery

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Perfume: The Story of a Murderer

Around 2018 I embarked on a project producing drawings and paintings illustrating scenes inspired by Patrick Suskind’s novel “Perfume, the story of a murderer”.

The novel centres around an orphan named Grenouille who has a highly developed olfactory sense, despite possessing no odour of his own. His search for containing fragrance results in depraved activities culminating in mass murder.

All paintings are available unless otherwise stated, email: matthewgwells@outlook.com

  • The hermit
  • A new man
  • We’ll make you a new man 3
  • We’ll make you a new man 2
  • We’ll make you a new man 1

Watercolour and ink on canvas, each £60

Birth of a monster, Watercolour, ink and acrylic on canvas £140
Outside the garden (l) Cherries in the garden (r) Watercolour, ink and acrylic on canvas, £140 each
Farewell Grenouille Ink, acrylic and varnish on canvas, £140
Climax Ink and acrylic on canvas, 100 x 100cm, £600

The largest painting (below) was damaged and subsequently destroyed, however it is available in digital form as an NFT, both static, in various stages of disintegration or as an animated gif. Available from Opensea.io

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Allegorical Paintings

Painted during my MA studies at Gray’s, Here is a series of Paintings combining elements from historical paintings, particularly still life and genre scenes such as Dutch “Merry Company” paintings, with imaginary elements and found images of contemporary political figures and animals. The intention or meaning of the resulting image is reliant on the links made by the viewer between the various symbolic elements, so that I have composed and drafted the image but the viewer writes the story using the clues to build the narrative.

Each is created using acrylic, ink and varnish on paper collaged onto canvas.

Each painting is available to purchase, email me matthewgwells@outlook.com with expressions of interest.

  • Land of no milk or honey, 30 x 30cm £100
  • In bad company, 30 x 42cm, £120
  • A few bad apples, 42 x 30cm, £120
  • A merry revolutionary, 30 x 30cm, £100
  • Betrayal of Britannia, 30 x 30 cm, £100
  • Wolf of Westminster, 30 x 30cm, £100
  • Brexit butcher of Britain, 30 x 42cm, £120
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The Hermit

In 2018 I produced a series of drawings and paintings inspired by Patrick Suskind’s famous novel “Perfume”, centering around its protagonist Jean-Baptiste Grenouille; an orphan with a highly developed olfactory sense, who emits no odour of his own.

The largest painting in the series was a 100 x 150cm canvas of Grenouille as a hermit. This finest of pointing was damaged and subsequently destroyed, so all that remains of the IMAGE is a photograph.

The 1/1 NFT of this photograph is available to own in the absence of the physical object.
The hermit is accompanied by an animated gif showing digital destruction of an image and its reappearance, with states of disintegration chosen as images in their own right.

Available to buy on Opensea

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Portfolio Update

I’ve set up a new portfolio page: https://mattwells.art.blog/portfolio/

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.

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In Focus: “10 Butts After Hirst”

Oil and acrylic on canvas, 15 x 21cm

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

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New Additions

3 Small drawings on card added today. Featured in the group of drawings titled “Age of Anxiety” on http://www.aportablegallery.wordpress.com

  • Cleithrophobia
  • Miasma
  • Stress thoughts