On Saturday afternoon, we popped along to the opening of Matthew Chamber’s new show in the Rope Store at Quay Arts in Newport.
We’ve been admirers of Matthew’s work since we first caught sight of it three years ago, when he exhibited in the Learning Curve Gallery as part of his 18 month residency at the Quay.
Since then, he’s gone onto set up and run his own studio in the Jubilee Stores and has successfully picked up some pretty high end commissions (more on those later).
The Rope Store is a fantastic space for Matthew’s work which is mostly made up of constructed high fired sculptural forms and vessels.
We were lucky enough to catch up with Matthew who talked us through the process involved in creating this spectacular work.
As Matthew is attracted to constructivism, architecture and modern design much of his work is based on geometry.
Through his work, he aims to create abstract beauty and intrigue for himself as well as admirers of his work.
Process
We’ve always wondered how on earth Matthew manages to create the spheres within spheres (as pictured).
But in fact, almost didn’t want to have the mystery taken away as Matthew explained that all the work shown in the exhibition (excluding the tiles) is created with wheel thrown sections which are dried and then constructed when the clay is leather hard, but obviously still maneuverable.
He went on to tell us that most pieces are made up of 8-10 sections and can have 4-5 pieces on the go at the same time.
The smaller items can take about two weeks to create from start to finish.
Commissions
Matthew has been successful is picking up some decent commissions over the last few years and told us about three pieces that he created for the Andaz Hotel in Liverpool Street (formerly Great Eastern Hotel).
The work is displayed on tall black glass plinths each with spot lights shining down on them. From the photos we found on the hotel Web site, Matthew’s work looks amazing in that setting.
Being chosen to create commissions to be displayed alongside work by eminent sculptor David Nash was quite an accolade for Matthew.
To hear more about Matthew and his work, listen to the podcast below. [audio:http://otw-audio.s3.amazonaws.com/matthew-chambers-rope-store.mp3]
The show at Quay Arts runs until 17 January 2009 in the Rope Store Gallery.
All images copyright Alpha Perry
