Manuel Mathieu: The Spell On You
Mathieu is known as an interdisciplinary artist, but is always drawn back to his paintbrushes. This young artist creates cerebral, stylized paintings that are at once highly personal and provocative, yet at the same time slightly unnerving in their intimacy. He often invokes his native country鈥檚 political history as a springboard: Mathieu was born in the year that the Haitian uprising brought the Duvalier era to an end, and he is named after the protagonist in Jacques Roumain鈥檚 1941 Haitian classic novel Gouverneurs de la ros茅e, or Master of the Dew.
As such, haunting, gory forms resembling people or body parts appear in his paintings, figures that are seemingly adrift in an anonymous setting鈥攁nd always appear to be alone. Yet his work is also incredibly physical. 鈥淚 deal with images like structures,鈥� Mathieu explains, initially 鈥渄estroying鈥� them, and then, through a variety of techniques鈥攍ike scratching and frottage, insertion, drawing, and dripping鈥揾e attempts to make them reappear again. The point at which he deems a work 鈥渃omplete鈥� can range from a day to months, in a process that the artist compares to 鈥渞unning in the dark: eventually you hit something, and you know.鈥�
Recommended for you
Mathieu is known as an interdisciplinary artist, but is always drawn back to his paintbrushes. This young artist creates cerebral, stylized paintings that are at once highly personal and provocative, yet at the same time slightly unnerving in their intimacy. He often invokes his native country鈥檚 political history as a springboard: Mathieu was born in the year that the Haitian uprising brought the Duvalier era to an end, and he is named after the protagonist in Jacques Roumain鈥檚 1941 Haitian classic novel Gouverneurs de la ros茅e, or Master of the Dew.
As such, haunting, gory forms resembling people or body parts appear in his paintings, figures that are seemingly adrift in an anonymous setting鈥攁nd always appear to be alone. Yet his work is also incredibly physical. 鈥淚 deal with images like structures,鈥� Mathieu explains, initially 鈥渄estroying鈥� them, and then, through a variety of techniques鈥攍ike scratching and frottage, insertion, drawing, and dripping鈥揾e attempts to make them reappear again. The point at which he deems a work 鈥渃omplete鈥� can range from a day to months, in a process that the artist compares to 鈥渞unning in the dark: eventually you hit something, and you know.鈥�
Artists on show
What's on nearby
