Matthew Draper PS

ARTIST STATEMENT

Matthew Draper is an Edinburgh based artist who trained at Walsall College of Art and Falmouth College of Arts in the early 1990's. Known for making atmospheric and emotive imagery, the subject matter of which is the artist's native British Isles. Matthew Draper has, over the last twenty-six years, exhibited widely throughout the UK establishing himself as one of the preeminent makers using the medium of chalk pastel. Matthew has produced over twenty one-man shows working with some of Britain's most established dealers and has received numerous awards and accolades. Draper’s work is influenced by the dramatic imagery of Eighteenth and Nineteenth Century painting. He admires the idea of the contemplation of landscape in the Romantic spirit, found in the work of the German Romantics such as, Casper David Frederick and the notion of the grandeur of the landscape as expressed in the work of the American Subliminal Painters like Sanford Robinson Gifford and Frederic Edwin Church. These artists adopted the term ‘Luminism’, defined as light in the landscape and the effect that light has on the landscape and objects within it.

STYLE

Draper’s work is created with an intense and energetic immediacy, working instinctively rather than methodically, keeping him physically and emotionally involved in the process. He crushes soft pastel in his hands rubbing the dust into the paper in wide sweeps of colour gradually manipulating the material to build up a thick layered surface using the ball of his thumb or the heel of his hand.

Draper has chosen to adopt the ‘Luminism’ notion mentioned above, with this approach in mind, his interest is not to make straight forward topographical images that are illustrations of place. Instead, he attempts to make imagery that is descriptive of the circumstances under which the subject is viewed; images which convey a sense of place. The drawings are emotional reactions to events and experiences evolving in front of him; events happening or about to happen. The images become like fading memories or captured moments in time. The making of the work is a set of actions and events which creates a harmony between his process and his interpretation of the subject.

EXHIBITING HISTORY

Examples of the Artist's work can be found in private, corporate, and public collections both in the UK and abroad, these include the collection of The Bank of Scotland, The Huawei Corporation, Falmouth Art Gallery, Kelvin Grove Gallery, and The City of Edinburgh. Draper is also a Professional Member of the Pastel Society UK, Visual Arts Scotland, and the Society of Scottish Artists.