Artist of the day: Artist of the day, November 8: Matthew Harding, Australian sculptor (Melbourne)

Wednesday, November 8, 2017

Artist of the day, November 8: Matthew Harding, Australian sculptor (Melbourne)

Matthew Harding (1964) is an innovative Australian artist/designer engaged in a diverse practice of sculpture, public art and design. Trained in the visual arts, construction industries and various craft traditions, Matthew pushes the boundaries of materials and process producing sculptural forms and design pieces in stone, wood, metal, glass and ephemeral media.

In a career spanning almost three decades Matthew has produced a substantial body of work across a wide range of artistic disciplines. Although he began his career in the 2d mediums of painting, drawing and printmaking, his practice currently focuses on large-scale public artworks, sculptural exhibition pieces, craft objects and furniture design.

Integral to Matthew’s practice are the processes of conceptualisation, design and fabrication of his work. He is much noted for his stainless steel forms, both mirror polished and exo-skeletal; however Matthew is equally at home carving figurative granite and wood or weaving delicate monofilament. In any medium, Matthew is constantly driven to push the boundaries of the material and conventional process.

During the previous decade Matthew has exhibited his signature steel forms consistently in national sculpture awards across Australia, including the prestigious McClelland National Sculpture Survey and Award (2007, 2010, Peoples Choice Award 2010); the National Sculpture Prize (NGV 2003); the Helen Lempriere National Sculpture Award (2003, 2004, 2006, 2008, Wyndham City Council Acquisitive Award and Popular Choice Award 2004) and Sculpture by the Sea (1999, 2002, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2011 recipient: Helen Lempriere Scholarship 2010).

In recent years large scale public projects have constituted the majority of Matthew’s work, and visitors enjoy his works in public places across Australia and abroad- from the 70th floor lobby of the new 103 story Four Seasons Tower in Guangzhou, China to the bustling corner of Burke and Elizabeth St in Melbourne’s CBD.

Having studied design under George Ingham at the ANU’S Canberra School of Art from 1992-1995, Matthew remains committed to his design practice, Matthew produces innovative and exceptional bespoke design pieces utilising his unique sculptural sensibility and refined craftsmanship. Internationally Matthew’s wood sculptures are much sought after by collectors and are part of several important private and public collections, including the Boston Museum of Fine Art.

While diverse in materials and processes, Matthew’s works demonstrate a common theme and investigation into the experiential aspect of form and materiality. He creates objects to be interacted with, touched, sat on, objects that reflect and morph; objects which have a vital and poetic relationship to the environment they are in and the people who interact with them. He is particularly noted for his unique sculptural seating, playful volumes that offer comfort, tactility and moments of contemplation (the Cushion 2001) (Industrial Midden 2008). Furthermore, Matthew’s work has been noted for an inherent dialectic investigation, challenging notions of perception, reflection and deception. In the use of highly polished stainless steel to construct sensual fluid forms (Mercury Rising 2009) he creates a tension between form and the inherent nature of a material, equally at play in the triangulated strength of his skeletal wireframe sculptures.

Matthew’s work is part of several important public and corporate collections nationally and internationally, including National Gallery of Australia; Artbank; Australian National University, ACT; The Boston Museum of Fine Art, USA; The Royal Collection, England; Inami Sculpture Park, Japan; Vanuatu Parliament, Vanuatu; Wing Tai Holdings, Singapore and private collections in Australia, Cambodia, Canada, Japan, New Zealand, United Kingdom and the United States.