Matt D McCarthy

An image that I may use as a basis for a larger painting or collage.

A simple idea, but it appealed to me, reminiscent to me of Grant Wood’s ‘American Gothic’ .

Mixed media assemblage; bead-weaving, satin, lizard skin, guitar preamplifier, plectrum, velvet, machine embroidery, birch ply, found objects, chamois leather, metal leaf, guitar strings and acrylic paint.

Frame depicting embossed lyrics to ‘Axis, Bold as Love’, from the album of the same name.

This work is concerned with infidelity and deceit. It isn’t unusual for married, ostensibly heterosexual men to pick up gay men for casual sex. Readily available instant sexual gratification is what they are after. The incidental benefits are (comparative) anonymity, emotional detachment, and the added frisson of danger.
On many occasions I have seen some of these men walking about town with their wives and children, the wives oblivious (presumably) to their spouses’ activities. Read the rest of this entry »

Knights Errant – Hysterical Romance series, two of six figures.’Narcissus’ adapted to standing posture. Both 160×60 cm.

Wadded textile, Canford card and wire on a wooden armature.

Simple graphic variations on a theme, effectively ‘Photoshop’ collages  created to help me move things around in order to realise composition, colour gamuts and so on. I find ‘Photoshop’  an invaluable tool for collage and composition, especially when working with assemblages containing objects. Moving and layering things in the ‘real world’ can be time consuming and extremely frustrating.

This is still a work in progress, mainly due to financial constraints. It is based on the eponymous song title from the  ’Bonzo Dog Band’s’  album, ‘The Doughnut in Granny’s Greenhouse’.

The finished assemblage will be my peculiar visualisation of suburban living; sometimes it looks like heaven, at other times, hell.

CAD manipulated photograph for possible use as a painting.

CAD manipulated photograph for possible use as a painting.

CAD manipulated photograph for possible use as a painting.