30 x 25cm, acrylic on canvas
My small canvas studies base on the monochrome illustrations in Cesar Ripa’s iconologia continue. These are learning aids in a way, embedding postures, fabric folds and symbolic elements in my muscle memory to enhance my improvised drawings.
As part of my practice I sometimes make landscape studies. The reasons vary from documenting the passage through time and space (in my walking drawings), sourcing potential locations and elements for inclusion as setting for later narrative works, to the enjoyment of applying paint to mimic colour combinations, texture and interesting lighting effects.
I have added a gallery here and otherwise stated all works are available. Enquiries can be made to matthewgwells@outlook.com
The first series added consists of 25 studies of the Moray coastline painted in acrylic on card, around A5 size.
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
Watercolour and ink on canvas, each £60
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
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.
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.
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.
Bid here: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/393650606449
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.
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:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/393639505138
I’m experimenting with eBay as a sales platform and have uploaded these three additions to the site to eBay, where the starting price is 50% off, at £15. As these are my first listings, I am also offering free postage (in the UK).
Press the link below to visit the eBay listings!
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/393639461781
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/393639471981
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/393639486012
I read Jerry Saltz’s article on Jasper Johns which ignited an interest in what Johns is currently doing, leading me to The Works on Paper exhibition currently on the Matthew Arks Gallery website, and a return to looking at my Johns books, with particular interest in the formal aspects of image construction and interplay of colour and object, which activated a link in my mind to a in many ways dissimilar artist in Patrick Heron. I always preferred the more “draughtsmanly(?)” Heron works, but enjoyed the visual vibration of the point where his juxtaposed colours meet. So I wanted to learn a bit about how to build high chromatic interesting fields by making drawings after and inspired by Heron’s 60s/70s era. Learning by drawing. Call me “Matt-Rick Heron”.
“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.
Matt Wells Art 