OBJECTS


'Material Culture' - comment on human condition
The Cornishman Frank Rurhmund Sept '94

'Since the days of Duchamp and his pioneering use of the ready made object, artists have been using found 'bits and pieces' from everyday life to create compositions or sculptures that often comment upon the current states of affairs if not the human condition.

A major exhibition devoted to the 'transfiguration of everyday stuff' with the appropriate title 'Material Culture' is currently being held at the Hayward Gallery ... several of the 50 or so works that Matthew Lanyon is now presenting at Rainyday Gallery, Penzance, would not be out of place there.

The first time he has shown his work, he certainly makes an impact...Those who operate on the same wavelength as Matthew Lanyon does, who can tune into his sense of humour, will love this show...
(He) offers much to intrigue and enjoy.'



Pasiphae ‘89
 

 

Pasiphae's story...

King Minos fails to sacrifice a beautiful white bull to the gods. His wife Pasiphae is made to fall in love with the bull.
Daedalus, the inventor, creates a cage so that she can consummate her love. Their offspring is the Minotaur.

 

 


Camera ‘91

 

watching the birdie

My grandfather was an amateur photographer. He took his 12"x10" plate camera with its 4" lens, bellows and tripod out at low tide photographing seagulls.

When I made my camera I got a pair of jackdaws after the first exposure. The albumen process - three chicks every year for over a decade.

  

 


Medusa ’96

 

 


Found objects: hand mirror, old nails collected from Jackdaws' nest

 




Hammer and Saw ’88

 

 


It started with 'The Annunciation' - the angel and the virgin. I saw Fra Angelico's fresco when I was twenty-three.

When I gave up the building trade I began reconstructing my toolkit. I took my saw and moved the teeth from blade to handle.

 
 

 


Time Bomb ‘98

Bone, carburettor, rubber hose, ticking clock mechanisms

  





Petroleum and its Products ‘99

Toy cars, laboratory flask, hose and book -
'Petroleum & its Products' by R. Redwood 1896

Toaster ‘89

The wedding present
 

 

 


The Alphabet ‘08

631 Medicine Bottles


 

 

Big Medicine ‘10

Two thousand and twenty five bottles





Five forks and a bit of plastic ‘12






A Bit of Telly ‘98

 



Ways of giving up photography '93

 

 

 

 

 

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Copyright  © Matthew Lanyon 2009. All rights reserved.