Putney School of Art and Design is hosting an exhibition of new works by Steve Mathews.
Exhibition is on show from April 17th to April 29th 2023.
Steve is an alumnus of the Diploma programme at Putney School of Art, his practice covers fictive storytelling, agency of found objects and painterly constructions. The work in this exhibition was created during Jane Millar’s Open Studio-Contemporary Practice.
The attraction for Mathews is as much about unseen process as the final work. Behind each piece there can be a lengthy multi-stage ‘construction’ which creates the foundation for many potential unexpected images. Mathews is interested in the tension between process and results that are largely outside of his control. Being comfortable in this uncertainty echoes Keats ‘negative capability’.
The ‘final’ reveal may not indeed be final as the process is sufficiently rich to suggest other options for further collage, de-collage or process repeat. As a result, an initial piece often leads to the creation of more than one work. This multiple is also unplanned and a further attractive aspect that appeals to Mathews. Deconstruction in a sense also allows for further construction as new images are created or perhaps just revealed. The overall result is a painterly construction (with some deconstruction).
Instagram #stevedmathews
All work NFS
Jane Millar’s Open Studio-Contemporary Practice is held in the Oxford Road School on Tuesday mornings.
Few pictures of the exhibited work by Steve Mathews.
