Charles Matton
Classical Sculptor's Studio, 2004
mixed media box construction
34 1/2 H x 31 1/2 W  x 29 1/2 D inches
Edition 1/4




Charles Matton
Manhattan Image-Souvenir (The Green Wall), 2003
mixed media box construction
23 7/8 H x 35 3/8 W  x 12 7/8 D inches
Edition 1/4




Charles Matton
Anna Freud's Living Room in London, 2004
mixed media box construction
20 H x 18 W x 20 3/4 D inches
Edition 1/4




Charles Matton
Debussy's Poisson D'or , 2004
mixed media box construction
34 1/2  x 20 1/2  x 33 1/2 inches




Charles Matton
Hotel Hall, 2004
mixed media box construction
86 x 29 x 24 inches with stand

 

Charles Matton
Library: Homage to James Joyce, 2004
mixed media box construction
28 3/4  x 29 1/2  x 23 1/2 inches




Charles Matton
Perec Library, 2004
mixed media box construction
34 1/2  x 31 1/2  x 29 1/2 inches




Charles Matton
Contemporary Sculptor's Studio, 2004
mixed media box construction
36 H x 39 1/2 W x 35 1/2 D inches
Edition 1/4




Charles Matton
The Narcissistic Fat Lady, 2003
mixed media box construction
28 3/4 H x 21 1/4 W  x 18 1/8 D inches
Edition 1/4




Charles Matton
The Grand Hotel (The Yellow Curtain), 2002
mixed media box construction
37 3/4 H x 35 1/2 W  x 31 D inches
Edition 2/4

October 28  – December 11, 2004

Beginning October 28, 2004, Forum Gallery will present an exhibition of new works by the French artist, Charles Matton. The exhibition will offer seven new, elaborate mixed media installation boxes; figure-based sculpture and paintings in oil along with six unusual works that combine paintings and sculpture. Matton is best known in America for the boxes, in which he painstakingly creates imaginary miniature interior scenes, leading the viewer into self-contained three-dimensional worlds. In France, his fanciful sculpture and paintings are equally celebrated.

Matton says, "…I create two kinds of boxes: those whose purpose is to recreate an atmosphere that has delighted me, a memory whose existence I wish to perpetuate; and the more objective pieces that are the result of a detailed examination of the 'realistic truth' of a certain place." In this new exhibition, both are well represented. Matton has created three new libraries. Two are homages to authors whose works are meaningful to the artist, and the third is a public library, a place where a young woman comes to read and contemplate. There are two sculptors' studios, one classical and one definitively modern; each is a wonderland of imagination. In the work Debussy-Poisson d'Or, there is a "live" performance of one of the French composer's most difficult pieces. The pianist is Matton's son, Jules. In the Hotel Hall, Matton has created an infinite, silent, light-filled space, at once evocative of the past and inviting in the present.

Charles Matton will exhibit sculptures which relate to the box constructions. While some are larger-size realizations of the miniature maquettes in the boxes, others are sculptures that could have been made by the artists whose studios are represented by the boxes.

The paintings to be exhibited are delicate sense memories that derive from the locales and the objects depicted in the box constructions. Often, these paintings are done before the box is made, but usually, Matton works on the box and the paintings that relate to it at the same time.

Charles Matton, 71, had his first one-person exhibition in America at Forum Gallery in 2002. He has exhibited extensively in France, Italy and Japan at museums, galleries and public exhibition spaces. Works by Charles Matton are in the permanent collections of the National Museums of Art, Kyoto and Tokyo and major museums throughout France. Since 2002, his work has become part of 36 American private collections.

Charles Matton: New Works opens with a reception on October 28th from 5:30-7:30 pm, and will be on view through December 11, 2004.
 

©2005 Forum Gallery