Matthew Wells - Fine Art
Speaking about his artistic journey, Matthew says he first arrived at Gray's in 2001, aged 17, single-mindedly in pursuit of learning how to be a painter. He specifically wanted to be a narrative painter in the expressive, romantics tradition stretching from Rubens to Delacroix, to the New Glasgow Boys.
By the end of his BA studies, Matthew's grandiose ambitions had altered. Whilst he was still concerned with depicting or suggesting a narrative, his work had matured under the influence of his tutors towards a more subtle, suggestive approach to storytelling.
Following graduation, Matthew had a young family and, like so many others, began a full time job to provide, relegating physical painting time to dusk or dawn.
Whilst the possibilities of how or what to create were never far from Matthew's mind, he had little time to fully work through his ideas. With so much to do and so little time, Matthew says he developed no coherent approach to his work for many years. This resulted in many potentially exciting seeds of work never coming to fruition or being over thought.
Fast forward 14 years and two more children and Matthew's work had developed in a personal manner. He decided to return to education, anticipating critical judgement would benefit his work.
Over the two years of his part time MA study at Grays, Matthew's youthful interest in the narrative has remained but he has delved deeper into the how's and whys of his creative process, rooted in drawing as a research method.
Matthew explores allegory and discovers how art uses symbols to convey a hidden or ulterior meaning. His work focuses on how images and their context can simultaneously be a truthful representation and deceitful manipulation of the viewer.
He believes the public is generally much more familiar with a piece of art through a reproductive form than the original, be it 16th Century engravings of paintings, mass produced photo- reproduced postcards or digital facsimiles on our phone screens.
He says his tutor at Grays has been a really good guide, providing encouragement and making supportive suggestions throughout his studies.
As to what next, Matthew has secured the John Kinross Florence scholarship and will spend time in Italy to further his studies of late medieval frescoes of Giotto and the tense noir of Caravaggio.
Ahead of the postgraduate showcase, Matthew says it is rather more rare to stand in front of a work of art, especially for a parochial countryside dweller such as himself! He believes that's what makes the physical exhibition at the Look Again project space so exciting.
