Exhibition Dates: November 28, 2015 - January 16, 2016
Opening Reception: Saturday, November 28, 2-5pm
The gallery is pleased to present "A Photographic Survey", our first solo exhibition and Canadian premiere by multitalented French artist Charles Matton.
This exhibition will display a selection of work, including photographs from his very first "Reconstitutions of Sites", from the early stages of a process started in 1986 which led to his famous "Boxes". The self-described "manufacturer of images" created these interiors by designing, building, sculpting, painting, and lighting miniaturized sets. Matton then photographed these sets to produce "almost realistic" images depicting a parallel universe of spaces and accessories created by the artist through composition, material, and colour. He carefully crafted lighting, the final step in his process, to break down the appearances into endless interpretations in his obsessive search of reality.
From 1960 to 1983 Matton stopped exhibiting publicly and focused on painting for himself and a small group of collectors. During this time he worked as an illustrator for Esquire magazine, as well as Christian Bourgois Publisher and Le Club Français du Livre, among others. Matton also worked in stage design and was the screenwriter and director for six films, including his internationally acclaimed 1998 film Rembrandt, with actor Klaus Maria Brandauer, which earned the 1997 French Grand Prix for best script.
Charles Matton was born in Paris in 1931 where he lived until his death in 2008. He has been written about in publications by French philosophers such as Jean Beaudrillard, Paul Virilio, and Alain Finkielkraut, and in publications including ARTNews, ArtForum, New York Times, Rolling Stone, Art in America, and LA Weekly, as well as most French international press, including FMR magazine. His work has been exhibited worldwide at venues such as Palais de Tokyo, Paris; AVA Gallery, London; Michael Haas Gallery, Berlin; Museum of Arts and Design, New York; Städtische Museen, Germany; CAFA Art Museum, Beijing, China; and Forum Gallery, New York and Los Angeles.His work can be found in public collections including the National Museum of Modern Art, Kyoto and Tokyo, Japan; Maison Européenne de la Photographie, Paris; a permanent installation at the Bibliothèque Nationale de France, Paris; and many private collections, including the Me Collection, Berlin.
