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.
Tag: illustration
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In Focus: You Can’t take it with you
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”.
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In Focus: Cannibalising Courbet #3
The first of a new category of blog post, in which an available painting is picked out for discussion.
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.
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Welcome
This site documents artworks from my archive which are currently available to purchase directly from my studio.
In the spirit of The Artists Support Pledge founded by artist Matthew Burrows during the COVID 19 pandemic, no works will be priced higher than £200, and when £1000 of sales has been reached, I will pledge to purchase an artwork by another artist participating in the artist support pledge. This site will also feature a gallery of work purchased through the pledge, as they are made.
Please send me an email with any enquiries to:
Matt Wells Art 