Matthew Bax, Sample Camelot, 2012, acrylic, charcoal, pencil, wax crayon on paper, 15 x 10cm
In both his life and work, Matthew Bax confirms his reputation as a Renaissance man in the international urban arena.
In a studio in Munich, Bax has created his new series of pretty little stupid pictures. In these paintings, Bax employs the recognisably domestic motifs of flowers and shoes and, in so doing, engages the potential associations – good and bad – of the viewer with these domestic themes. Holding a mirror up to the multisensory pressures and pleasures of domestication, Bax thus asks the viewer to choose one of two possible directions in their response to his work: are the motifs familiar and comforting or redolent and smothering?
Bax’s paintings of flowers challenge contemporary approaches to artistic practice, simultaneously demonstrating an exquisite patience and restrained handling in his representation of the theme. Through the title of the exhibition and the tone of his palette, Matthew Bax further explores the validity and authority of beauty in contemporary art.
