The paintings explore the complex relationships which develop between different personalities over time; our preoccupation with our own, personal experiences of reality, and the feeling of alienation this sometimes causes.
The subjects recall the raw emotional states of childhood which we learn to mask later in life. Matt Hardman draws from his own direct experiences but reshuffles and re-present them in an attempt to recapture the atmosphere of a remembered event or situation and the intensity of the feeling around it. His hope is that the work conveys some of the anxieties, humour, and frustrations that are part of the human condition.
The Process
Matt works with oil paint - and, sometimes, with spray paint - on ply board, which is a tough support, allowing him to constantly revise the surface of the painting as it develops.
The process is involved - as there are many alternate versions, some visible, some buried beneath the finished painting. Starting with a sketch, or from something seen or found - or working straight from the imagination instinct, memories, and experiences.
Scraping back areas of the painting’s surface revealing hidden textures and patches of colour - the ghosts of lost paintings - through which he creates a sense of movement and passing time.
Decisions are made about what will be saved as the main focus- and what will be painted out to create foreground and background space, landscape, sky.
Matt Hardman(born 1972) lives and works in Rye East Sussex UK studied 2D & 3D communication at the University of Brighton 1992 - 1994 & Illustration from 2008 - 2010 achieving awards in both subjects he has exhibited extensively in the UK and his work is held in private & public collections.
