Matthew Bourne British, b. 1969

Matthew Bourne derives his work from his passion for metaphysical concepts such as

sight, sound, emotion and time. As a result, Bourne argues that his abstract paintings

are timeless due to the emotive qualities and transcendental means of expression.

Bourne’s work is abstracted because he spends time focusing on the process of

painting, rather than solely the subject matter. He believes the process of painting is

integral to its content and the quality of foremost importance. Not only focusing on the

process, and trying to raise awareness in the viewer of the process, Bourne aims to set

up a tension in his paintings between spontaneity and risk and a more measured

controlled approach. Within this approach, the paintings include both a mix of

abstracted and recognisable qualities. Bourne says, “I strive to create paintings thathave the right balance in mood, light, texture, brushwork, placement, incident and

structure. To flick, smudge, pour, spray, spread, scrape, rub, splat, squeeze, draw,

scribble and dribble in order to create tough, uncompromising paintings which carry the

weight of art history and relate to people on many levels. I strive for my paintings to

feel timeless being both ancient and modern at the same time, creating an appreciation

of the history and passing of time within the landscape.

My paintings are a celebration of oil paint as a relevant, magical poetic and expressive

medium.

They are a journey into my internal honesty, sensitivity, belief and conviction in

formalism, something which has been embedded in my practice for over 30 years.

Whether through representational clues or pure abstraction the same principles apply.”