The Venal Muse Mat Collishaw

Mat collishaw wall insecticide series 2006 2011.

The venal muse mat collishaw.

Historical classification 2010s. Mat collishaw the venal muse 2012. New art gallery walsall also staged the uk premier of collishaw s zoetrope. They are reflections on the depraved state of modern media saturated culture and the spectre of genetic manipulation.

An important member of the young british artists mat collishaw creates work that confronts issues of moral ambiguity with formally stunning and alluring imagery. Venal muse 9 2012. Often creating a dialogue with past masters to explore humanity s dark side collishaw s seemingly simple but actually complex works are often based on references from myth. Matthew mat collishaw honfrps born 1966 is an english artist based in london.

Ideas that deal with death destruction and decay become hypnotic and compelling. Dialogues is also the artist s first solo exhibition in spain and offers an insight into his dark and compelling world through seminal works and rarely seen pieces including works from fundació sorigué s own collection. About mat collishaw s the end of innocence mat collishaw has never shied away from difficult or challenging subject matter. Insecticides 2006 ongoing and catching fairies 1996 as well as the sculptural series the venal muse 2012 15.

The venal muse series mat collishaw request image. He participated in freeze 1988 and since his first solo exhibition in 1990 has exhibited widely internationally. These works allude to charles baudelaire s 1857 controversial volume of poetry les fleurs du mal the flowers of evil which dealt with such themes as eroticism death and lost innocence. Coupling references to art history literature and the victorian era with modern imaging technology the artist renders powerful.

Mat collishaw is a key figure in the important generation of british artists who emerged from goldsmith s college in the late 1980s. The new art gallery walsall is delighted to present a major survey exhibition by british artist mat collishaw the first in a uk public gallery for over ten years. In addition to this series collishaw will present two works from his venal muse series which consist of ornate floral sculptures in sturdy vitrines.