Optimism As Cultural Rebellion (T-Shirt) - 2013 - Framed Photo-print on Beech Veneer MDF
Love Changes Everything (T-Shirt) - 2013 - Framed Photo-print on Beech Veneer MDF
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Optimism As Cultural Rebellion (T-Shirt) - 2013 - Framed Photo-print on Beech Veneer MDF
Love Changes Everything (T-Shirt) - 2013 - Framed Photo-print on Beech Veneer MDF
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EVERYTHING IS POSSIBLE & LOVE CHANGES EVERYTHING
EVERYBODY IS AN ARTIST & EVERYTHING IS ART
My friends and I stayed up all night. Sat in the corner of a nightclub, under its coloured lights, lights that in their movements resembled the strength and indescribable beauty of our souls; we talked about perfection. If everybody is an artist and everything is art, then an artist is not special and art is no more important than any other mundane activity. To a dreamer, this appeared a depressing and confusing reality. If everything was special then maybe nothing could be. Could it be that all of existence was rotten? Was humanity a grand and decrepit mistake, limping towards its constant and ultimate destination of death? However, as the warm light of our friendship, washed over us, we began to understand that this could also mean, that every possible action was pregnant with possibility and creative potential. “A great artist understands this personal freedom and spends her life communicating it to others.” I said. “The mindful choices she makes, not only define her own life, but shine like luminous, truth-loving stars, born to vitalise and inspire those that are touched by them.” If this was true and art only existed to remind us of the creativity inside everyday actions, then art was a loving act. We had found a way of understanding how to live as artists in the world today. Whilst the sharp shocks of art had long given way, a myth had persisted that kindness was naive and weak and that ideals must always become oppressive ideology.
At points we had all been struck by the storm-like grandeur of violent artistic gestures. At times it had even seemed that passion only lived inside acts of cruelty. The urge to destroy, reject and transgress had persisted as if more relevant and powerful than any desire to create or nurture. The twentieth century was characterised by philosophies that rejected the notion of simple or singular truths. God was declared dead, and generations of passionate individuals sought freedom from the post-Victorian, bourgeois and puritanical hypocrisies of their parents. This concerted effort to seek out and destroy the rotten—to explore emergent-realities and to propose new ways of being—was borne of a desire to find authenticity in a seemingly inauthentic age. But too often the yawning abyss, left behind by the seeming death of truth, created only love-lost cynicism. The nihilist cry of “No future!” echoed across black vinyl dancefloors.
For a sublime moment an eye had blinked open in the perfect storm. We were provided with a moment of respite, clarity and peace. We understood that we need not reject rebellion or the questioning of truth to embrace, optimism, love and kindness. I declared kindness to be “the only radical act in a world largely defined by cruelty and destruction”. Going on to say; “But there is danger in blind optimism, as there is danger in sheer apathy and nihilism. We should try to do what is right, but more importantly we must always consider what the right thing to do really is. Optimism is the vital force that entangles itself with and then shapes the future, so we should embrace it. For if all artists reject optimism, then nobody will be here to create the future with sensitivity. The stories will be told, and with conviction, but only by those who seek power over beauty.”
My doubting friend stood to leave, her body jerked upright, his head tilting back. I feel her vessels dilate. I hear a voice; “Networked-minds, oxygenated and alive because different thoughts pass through our muscular hearts.” I was then that I spoke without fear” “Everything is Possible & Love Changes Everything.”
Looking back now it had become clear to me that we are still able to credibly speak about love. A love that finds its feet in a kindness that is more powerful than violence. A love thats mystery lies in a type of beauty that is beyond the body & that dwarfs the things that you can buy.
Love focused like a laser.
Where the Movements Came From - Photographic print on beech veneered MDF - 2012
Phase Change (Flash) - Photographic print on beech veneered MDF - 2012
The Warm Light of Friendship (Phoebe) - Photographic print on oak veneered MDF - 2012
Stormlike Grandeur - Photographic print on beech veneered MDF - 2012
The Co-Existence of the Spiritual World and the World of the Senses - Photographic print on oak veneered MDF with wenge frame - 2012
Omnilove - Photographic print on oak veneered MDF - 2012
Climax - Photographic print on birch plywood, brass hinges and screws - 2012
Materials of the Universe - Photographic print on birch plywood, brass hinges and screws - 2012
Installation shot
Head | Heart | Groin - Framed giclee prints and custom mounts - 2012
Unconditional Commitment to Sacred Love - Framed giclee print - 2012
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06.09.2012 - 05.10.2012
PRIVATE VIEW (FB EVENT)
Thursday 06.09.2012 - from 6.30 to 8.30PM
La Scatola Gallery in collaboration with Union Gallery are delighted to present “Everything is Possible”, a major solo exhibition with artist and shaman Matthew Stone. The exhibition unfolds a new body of work, shaped by the interlinking of performance, photography & sculpture.
Nearest tube station Liverpool Street and Shoreditch High Street overground station.
V1 GALLERY PROUDLY PRESENTS
UNCONDITIONAL COMMITMENT TO SACRED LOVE
A solo exhibition by MATTHEW STONE
OPENING: FRIDAY AUGUST 03. 2012. TIME: 17.00 - 22.00
EXHIBITION PERIOD: AUGUST 03 – AUGUST 25. 2012.
V1 Gallery proudly presents British artist Matthew Stoneʼs second solo exhibition in Denmark.
The exhibition unfolds a new body of work, shaped by the interlinking of performance,
photography & sculpture.
Stoneʼs work emerges from a personally defined philosophy of Optimism, which he defines as
being “The vital force that entangles itself with and then shapes the future”. In a series of new
works Stone has portrayed his fellow creatives; artists, club-kids, dancers and activists at play. The
stunning black and white works, have a timeless, classic and yet highly original feel to them. At
first glance they resemble archaic etchings or fevered drawings, but upon closer inspection reveal
themselves as photographs, created with a slow shutter speed. Stone was in front of the
camera dancing and painting on his subjects with lasers.
A group of wooden sculptures, composed of birch plywood and brass hinges, fold photographic
images across their surfaces. Stoneʼs photos of entangled limbs become a texture on the surface
grain of the wood along with images of veined marble and cloud-strewn skies. A series of wall
based works on oak, walnut and beech veneered MDF, similarly combine the natural, the industrial
and the digital to create romantic depictions of bodies in unison. Here Stone has re-photographed
his own images, draped as fabric and created new works that occupy a space between
dimensions. His beautiful and formal works are evidence of a living and social sculptural process
that addresses culture as a whole. His title ʻUnconditional Commitment to Sacred Loveʼ forms a
micro manifesto expressing his sincere belief in artʼs potential to connect and illuminate.
حياة عادية /La Vie Ordinaire/Ordinary Life
An immersive performance by Matthew Stone and Phoebe Collings-James
02/03/2012
9 pm - 11.30pm
Hammam el-Bacha
Note: Exact timing of strictly women-only and men-only performances tbc. Please enquire at Rhiad el-Fenn, Marrakech in person for further details and booking.
Capacity is severely limited.
Special thanks to Rick Owens & Michele Lamy.
Thanks to the boutique of Mustapha Blaoue in Marrakech.
#EverythingisPossible #LoveChangesEverything
The Marrakech Biennale is pleased to announce the dates for the 4th Edition of the Marrakech Biennale, 29thFebruary- 4th March with the Main Visual Arts Exhibitions running from the 29th February - End of May.
Marrakech Biennale works to form cultural bridges and dialogues creating a forum for debate, free thinking and the exchange of ideas through contemporary Visual Art, Literature and Film. The opening 5 days will be titled Surrender and will consist of Performances, Debates, Talks and Screenings as well as the opening of the Main Visual Arts Exhibition.
For more information on the 4th Edition of the Marrakech Biennale click here.
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The Body Beyond will be Matthew Stone’s first published collection of photographs and is available in a strictly limited edition of 1,000 hardback copies from January 2012.
132 pages / 235 x 180 mm / English / 2011
Limited Edition of 1,000
€43 + €8 Shipping and handling
Further information: Press Release PDF (1.4MB)
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