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Matt Macken:Keeping Time
Matt Macken:Keeping Time
2021
Signed on reverse
Oil on canvas
16 x 12 inches
Detail from ‘Keeping Time’, 2021. Matt Macken
Detail from ‘Keeping Time’, 2021. Matt Macken
Matt Macken’s painterly process aims to explore intimate and personal aspects of the human condition. Collecting artistic inspiration from his own memories, photographs, social media platforms, and inbox messages, Macken amalgamates snippets of everyday experiences into his subject matter. Regarding his craftsmanship, Macken’s methods echo his aims and influences.
Detail from ‘Keeping Time’, 2021. Matt Macken
The artist works by slowly applying and removing large amounts of paint from his canvas surface, allowing his image to stain and, in his words, ‘dismantle itself through the journey of its creation’. The resulting pieces are rich with colour, their surfaces have been painted over and reworked in such a way that suggests they have been carefully considered and savoured like a treasured memory.
Keeping Time (2021) depicts a lone figure standing beneath a clock. Frozen in time, the hands on the clock will not move past 4:00, nor will the flower pictured wilt and die. The figure’s features will not alter with age, rather they have been immortalised within the picture plane. Keeping Time comprises smooth, blurred shapes, softly rounded in a melancholic haze. The colour palette exudes an earthy warmth, glowing softly as if a faraway recollection.
Studio
B. United Kingdom 1986
Biography
Matt Macken (b. 1986) draws from personal references, including memory, photographs and social media to create his paintings. Using a vibrant colour palette, Macken paints expressive works that are rich in symbolism. In particular, Macken is interested in the human condition, with his work blending the figurative with abstracted, simplified forms.
Macken’s work has been exhibited in the UK, Europe and the United States, including the Saatchi Gallery London. In October 2021 he will participate in the Clovermill Artist Residency in the Netherlands.
Macken lives and works in Leicester.