NYAB Event - Matt Campbell "Out of the Black"

Matt Campbell "Out of the Black"

This event has ended.
At gallery hanahou
Media: Photography, Sculpture

"Out of the Black" is a solo show of new works by artist and creative director Matt Campbell. In the artist's words: "This work embodies the state of mankind today and our imprint on the planet. We take natural resources and create garbage and pollution. We invade the habitats of other life forms and take them over and drive them out. We know it’s bad but we can’t stop - because we love all the cool shiny new stuff we make. We love technology - we love Tuna and we just want to keep eating it."

The creatures in this show have been all been created, loved, abandoned and finally entombed in a symbolic black rubber skin.
Wrenched out of the blue (the natural living world) and thrown into the black (the artificial or “dead” world that we create).
They are sad but also, simultaneously, shiny and attractive. They possess an iconic beauty despite their bedraggled state. They’re Cute yet Dark - whimsical but cynical. It's curious that we’re attracted to this interesting mix of characteristics. Is it to do with our conflicted nature? We love to create and marvel at life - but even the smallest child, male or female, instinctively revels in destruction and curiously kills a bug out of wonder.