Beauty in Harmony: Nine Minutes with Mat Chivers
A new exhibition by British visual artist, Mat Chivers, includes beautiful and intriguing monochromatic marble sculptures. Having been one of three finalist in this year's Fondazione Henraux award he has been working on the pieces at the Henraux quarry in Tuscany, which has supplied stone to many famous sculptors over the years including Henry Moore, Jean Miro and Hans Arp. His strong international profile is further enhanced by having in both the 54th and 55th Venice Biennales, as well as the 2011 Athens Biennale.
The exhibition, entitled Harmonic Distortion, will be his first solo show in more than five years, and is currently on at the PM/AM gallery in Marylebone.
The show examines the environmental data of shifts in cloud and wave cycles as signifiers of our precarious contemporary moment. Chivers uses a range of media to explore relationships between these phenomena, the fundamental materials that constitute the world, and the contemporary production technologies that we use to understand and interact with them. It will be comprised of three parts: the large-scale marble sculptures, a further series of wall-based works, and the performative piece that will also incorporate drawing and original music.
After Nyne went to meet Mat ahead of the launch of the show to talk about what we can expect from this intriguing new show.
Mat, tell us about the founding concept of the Harmonic Distortion exhibition.
Harmonic Distortion is the product of my research into how we are becoming increasingly reliant on technology and how this is affecting our ability to understand the reality that we are part of. I’m interested in perception - how we take in information from the world and transform it - and how our actions are influenced as a result. The work in the show draws from environmental phenomena - actual clouds scanned by meteorological balloon and the form of breaking waves - in counterpoint with raw climate data relating to sun frequency and wave heights recorded at various locations around the planet. This information has been brought into conjunction with the sensuality of the materials I use. For me the biggest issue that we face as a species is how we navigate the digital moment without losing our sensual relationship with the world
Marble is a material with such artistic pedigree and heritage. Tell me about your attraction to the medium.
Stone is a material that I keep coming back to as I feel it continues to have enormous cultural relevance. One of the marbles used in the sculptures for this show was quarried from the same mountain that Michelangelo quarried stone for Pope Julius II tomb. As well as hand carving - in counterpoint to historical makers, I use robotic milling technology to translate digital files into form. This cultural loading is central to the ideas behind the work. I am also interested in the fact that marble is made from the compressed and metamorphosed exoskeletons of microscopic sea creatures. All of these layers accumulate to tell a story that stretches from the primordial, into the near future
You bring together a heritage material, artisan craftsmanship with contemporary milling techniques. What does this collision between the old and new feel like to you as an artist?
Collaboration has become an important part of the development of this body of work. Last week I was working in Italy with a crew of engineers and artisans who have marble working in their blood. They understand the nature of the material and they were excited about what I am attempting to do with it. It was rewarding for me to realise that the combination of digital and hand technologies that I have brought together in these works made sense to them. This combination is my way of alluding to what is at stake as a result of our (inevitable) infatuation with digitality
What issues have you encountered in bringing this show to fruition?
It’s been quite a journey, there have been a lot of people involved and some of the production processes across the work have never been used before so there has been a lot of experimentation. Working with the possibilities of the diverse materials - foundry cast sea salt, bondage performance artists, a renowned music producer marble, cyanotype prints - has presented its own constraints and as a result has opened up possibilities. The gallery have been very supportive and the conversations we have had together have eased us through some of trickier moments. It’s important for me to have a team that understands what I am trying to work towards - it allows me to relax into being creative
You have had an extremely interesting few years, encompassing the Venice and Athens Biennales. What has been your highlight experience?
To be honest, the most exciting moments have been in the studio. I am a dedicated maker. I love working with materials - pushing, diversifying and refining my practice. When the work goes out to shows that’s great in terms of how it generates feedback but for me the biggest value this brings is how it gets me into new conversations and generates possibilities to make more ambitious work
How have Fondazione Henraux supported you in bringing this show to life?
Henraux are an organisation dedicated to pushing the possibilities of working with marble. When I came to them with them with my proposal for making the work they were keen to support the project. The level of technical expertise that they have is unrivalled in terms of their capability to bring cutting edge robotic technology and traditional hand-skills and mindset to bear. It was a pleasure to work with their engineers and artisans to make the sculptures happen. It’s the start of an ongoing conversation
With something as sensual and tangible as your Harmonic Distortion pieces, my first instinct would be to touch. Do you think this opens up interesting conversations about how the public relate to art?
Yes it does. Sensuality is very important for me. When its warmed by the sun, marble can feel like skin. When I am carving I usually explore the form I am making by running my hands over the surface without looking at it. I let my hands tell me what needs to be done. We touch with our eyes and our minds as well. I’m really interested in the idea of extended cognition - thinking as something that happens out into the world through our bodies engagement with materiality, rather than just neurones firing. The desire to touch in order to know - to experience is a fundamental and complex human driver
What would you like people to take away from the exhibition?
I’d like people to come away with more questions than answers
Mat Chivers
Harmonic Distortion
25th November 2016–28th February 2017
Address: PM/AM, 259-269 Old Marylebone Road, London NW1 5RA
IMAGE: Harmonic Distortion, 2016, Nero Marquina & Thassos marble, 125 x 55 x 50 cm
