Matthew Farrar
PHOTOGRAPHY
MATTHEW FARRAR
Through an apprenticeship straight from school, Matthew Farrar developed his relationship with the lens and made his new home in the dark rooms beneath the old Victorian railway station in Brighton, England.
The relationship took an early twist as opportunities arose in his other love of music. His journey took him through many of the world’s greatest cities, and the need to document his travels came to the fore, giving rise to a long-awaited reunion with photography in its shiny new digital form.
His work is an insight into how the eyes feed his mind, the deconstruction of structure into patterns and geometric form. A world of aesthetic values highlighted by shape and shadow, liquid and colour. We are granted access to perspectives that may otherwise have been missed. His abstractions exhibit a clear distinction from photojournalism in the artistic approach to his composition. Minimalism, drawn and framed from the lure of shadow, colour and form, he cuts bold and striking segments from the palette of all that’s in front of him.
Through his travels, the artist takes every moment to document the world as it flashes past. The varied landscape of cultures, through time zones of tradition and method. He shows us that everything we see around us has been designed and constructed with purpose and a vision. There is art in everything. It is in the building blocks of our cities and speaks loudly of what has been, and indeed inspires what is yet to come.
EXHIBITIONS
VOGUE GALLERY
VOGUE Magazine March issue 2016
Inclusion of image for March 2016 issue of VOGUE (UK)
SAATCHI ART
NEW PHOTOGRAPHY COLLECTION
Curated by Rebecca Wilson
January 2016
Rebecca Wilson is Chief Curator and Director, Art Advisory at Saatchi Art. She was formerly a Director at the Saatchi Gallery, London, where she was instrumental in the launch of the gallery's online presence. In 2007 she created New Sensations, a prize for art students which identifies and supports the most exciting emerging artists in the UK. Prior to joining the Saatchi Gallery, Rebecca worked for 14 years in book and art magazine publishing:she was editor of ArtReview, and before that deputy editor of Modern Painters. She has over 10 years of experience working with emerging artists.
UNICEF NEXT GEN ART PARTY
February 2015 & 2016
Inclusion of works in the first and second annual UNICEF NextGen Art Party.
It will be held on Saturday, February 27, 2016 in Downtown Los Angeles.
The NextGen Art Party is an amazing opportunity for artists to gain exposure and build relationships with the next generation of young philanthropists and art collectors. All proceeds from the event will benefit critical UNICEF programs, which enable UNICEF to help the world's most vulnerable children.
SAATCHI ART EXCLUSIVE EXHIBITION Curated by
Dylan McDermott
December 2015
http://www.saatchiart.com/shows/dylan-mcdermott-for-saatchi-art
For this special exhibition, part of Saatchi Art's ongoing Guest Curator Series, actor Dylan McDermott has curated an online photography exhibition exclusively for Saatchi Art featuring works by our community of emerging artists worldwide.
AN EVENING OF ART & DESIGN
AT WEST ELM
OCTOBER 2015
In celebration of Saatchi Art's new partnership with West Elm Los Angeles, we're excited to present a new exhibition of works by Los Angeles artists, curated by Hayley Miner, Director of Art Advisory to the Trade at Saatchi Art.
Inclusion of works in the Saatchi Art magazine
Exhibiting Artists:
DWYER KILCOLLIN
KELLY KLEINSCHRODT
NICHOLETTE KOMINOS
KRISTAN MARVELL
MATTHEW FARRAR
CHRISTOPHER REYNOLDS
DEBRA SCACCO
APRIL STREET
EMMA GRAY
LESLIE NIX
PRESS RELEASE BY CAROL CHEH
In color photography, “white balance” refers to the process of removing artificial color casts that can obscure the natural white hues of a subject. Elements in our atmosphere —sunlight, candlelight, reflections from nearby objects—can taint an image and make pale skin appear dark, or white snow appear green. While the naked eye can easily sort through the various color temperatures at play, the photographic image needs manual adjusting to achieve results closer to what we see in nature.
The noise of artificial color casts can be likened to the overloaded art scene in which we currently find ourselves. The art world is “hot” right now, and because of that, renegade color temperatures are off the charts. The fair circuit is all the rage, auction prices are headline news, and here in Los Angeles, trendy new galleries are opening every week. Blue chip stars continue to reap success while a bevy of young hopefuls tries to follow in their footsteps. Sometimes, the clamor to be seen in such a scene can produce disingenuous and derivative results, more redolent of a desire to become an “art star” than a passion for making art.
White Balancing, a pop-up group exhibition curated by L.A.-based art advisor Hayley Miner, aims to press the reset button and return viewers to a more direct experience of works by emerging artists that the curator finds genuinely exciting. Held in a 16,000 sq. ft. raw warehouse space located in El Sereno—a neighborhood adjacent to, but at a healthy distance from, the rapidly gentrifying downtown area of LA—White Balancing is a show that is driven by pure passion. As Miner says, “Joseph Campbell reminds us that ‘awe is what moves us forward.’ Because of these artists’ work, I was propelled to mount a show so that others can be awed too.”
Although the ten artists in this exhibition have highly varied practices, there are certain qualities that emerge in all of their work: honesty, joy, exquisite craftsmanship and attention to detail, and a depth of inquiry that consistently reveals the heart and soul of the human experience. Together, they create a visual environment that is unrushed and contemplative, inviting viewers to recalibrate their worlds through aesthetic pleasures as well as the questions and discoveries that lie just beneath the surface.
The mysterious beauty of objects comes to life in the work of Dwyer Kilcollin, Nicholette Kominos, and Kristan Marvell, who all wrest unexpected wonders out of the sculptural materials that they focus their formidable talents on. April Street, Debra Scacco, and Kelly Kleinschrodt gamely take on the residue of subjective personal histories, plunging their minds and bodies into the creation of artworks that are steeped in emotional and bodily remembrances. Christopher Reynolds and Matthew Farrar are more sly and selective in their presentations, turning a curious and critical eye onto iconic books and monumental architecture, respectively. Meanwhile, Emma Gray and Leslie Nix, two representational painters, revel in the impish spirit of their subjects, letting them inhabit colorful worlds where they are free to be the unalloyed versions of themselves.
CONTACT INFORMATION: Hayley Miner HM@HayleyMinerArt.com www.HayleyMinerArt.com (310) 245.4522
Hayley Miner is a curator and art advisor based in Los Angeles. Carol Cheh is a writer based in Los Angeles.
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