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Matthew Draper

Profession
BA Fine Art Painting Lecturer
College
Camberwell College of Arts
Person Type
Staff
Matthew  Draper

Biography

Matthew Draper’s works could best be described as art problems. How do you paint fuzzy? Can a carpet be emotive? Which looks less substantial, toilet paper or glass?

Draper’s paintings, drawings and collages test the invariable limitations of illusion and exploit the dysfunctional gaps between visual representation, empirical logic and the persistence of memory.

His works often depict domestic environments, taking banal items such as chairs, towel racks, or blinds and reimagining them in a style that shifts between tongue-in-cheek cartoon and believable hyperrealism.

Painting presents Draper with the challenge to both imagine and blueprint the improbable, drawing concrete conclusions from the endless possibilities art creates. Executed in soft, distant tones, his scenes evoke longing and desire, simultaneously suggesting the malleability of memory while also offering proof this once happened.

Draper’s work is regularly exhibited in the UK and internationally, featuring at galleries and museums such as Gallery Vela, Jerwood Space (both London), Brandstom (Stockholm) and Lennon Weinberg (New York).

Links

BA Fine Art Painting