MatWay
MatWay
Photo: Merle Mejlby
About MatWay (Matvey Slavin) - Neo-Grattage - Engraved Paintings
Etching into the Surface of Time
Exploring the deeper dimensions beyond appearances:
Matvey Slavin´s Engraved Paintings
In various ways, Der Momentfänger (Catcher of the Moment) created by Matvey Slavin in 2020, when the coronavirus pandemic set off a worldwide state of emergency, is a key work. It depicts the artist standing at the easel in a landscape, which he is evidently rendering on the mounted canvas. The hat worn by the artist while working on his painting also serves in a stylized form as a signet, a fusion of Matvey Slavin ´s initials ‘M’ and ‘S’. Both the self-portrait emerging from contours, and the landscape reduced to outlines and etched into the painted surface, remotely recall compositions by Vincent van Gogh (1853–1890). This is surely no coincidence: In Matvey Slavin´s work art-historical references, montages of citations derived from a wide range of sources, and pictures within pictures are fundamental elements that recur in different shapes.The term Der Momentfänger (The Catcher of the Moment) reflects the artist's consistent interconnection of various aesthetic dynamics, spatial, and temporal levels quasi at “the tip of the moment”1 in the instant of the respective representation. The aforementioned work revolves just as much around the making of pictures as around the coexistence of different phenomena in the flow of time, which converge in a “simultaneous image,”2 becoming part of an expanding narrative.
Matvey Slavin's origins lie in landscape painting, which from 2006 onward was increasingly replaced by pencil drawings of everyday urban life, from which the Zeitbilder (Temporal Images) evolved. The starting point of this series was a long-term exploration of the northern German harbor city of Hamburg, where the artist, born in 1987 in St. Petersburg, spent his youth. In Hamburg, he studied at the University of Applied Sciences and the University of Fine Arts. In the course of an exchange program in 2013, he attended the class of the painter Daniel Richter (*1961) at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna. Here, he experimented with manifold print and etching techniques, developing from these his own unique engraved painting style, which since then has become his primary medium.
His method of etching pictorial motifs into layers of impasto acrylic paint on the canvas is a present-day revitalization of the grattage (Engl.: scraped/scratched work), which the innovative Dada-Surrealist Max Ernst (1891–1976) conceived after inventing the frottage (Engl.: rubbing). Subsequent to Max Ernst, representatives of the post-war avant-garde such as Art Brut initiator Jean Dubuffet (1901–1985), or the abstract-expressive creator of mythical ciphers, Cy Twombly (1928–2011), also took up the grattagetechnique. In his view, Engraved Paintings offer Matvey Slavin, who has been living and working in Copenhagen since 2017, the possibility of conflating the quick tempo of drawing, the multi-layered complexity of painting, and minimalist conciseness with the immediacy of the incisions on the surface. As the artist states, “etching is like writing.”3
Accordingly, he regards Engraved Paintings as an intertemporal “associative language,” which reaches into the depths of the material and of history, spanning an arc to ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics and Roman inscriptions, all the way back to the cave paintings of our ancestors. Acrylic paint, which the artist applies alla prima directly to the canvas in at least two layers with his hands, comprises the ground of his works. The top layer is incised with tools such as metal nails and palette knives while it is still wet, so that the pictorial motif becomes visible through the contrasting color of the underlying layer. Although the artist does not render his subjects in a naturalistic fashion, these are often drawn from his own personal reality. Recollected and imaginary scenes are combined with self-produced or archived photographs as well as art-related documents, which partially have been digitally arranged into composite scenes beforehand at the computer. In the physical traces imprinted in Engraved Paintings, the impressions and visual evidence of experienced reality, which from the very beginning specifically included reflections on the art world, its products, and events, find concrete expression. These are haptic manifestations, which translate Roland Barthes's idea of photography as “an image rubbed off from the real”4 into palpable materiality.
Humorous accentuation, clashes between seemingly contradictory elements, dreamlike scenes, the spontaneity of the sketch, a paring down to the essentials: Matvey Slavin neo-surreal grattages not only operate between the times and locations, but also between mediums and atmospheres, internal and external perspectives, the unspectacular and the exceptional.
Predominantly realized in thematic groups, since 2013 their subject-matter has ranged from a focus on everyday life at the academy in Vienna, including classroom, studio, and exhibition situations, to portraits, landscapes, and interiors.The artist's approach varies between cartoon-like condensation and filigree complexity, which has still increased in recent years. Thus, a number of engraved paintings created in 2018, which recall René Magritte's “mystification of the everyday and the banal,”5feature intricately interwoven forest segments, in which simplified pictorial symbolssuch as a cloud, a hat, or boot, a house, or a trophy reveal further ramified wooded areas that have been inserted in these.
Self-portraits produced in 2019 on one occasion represent the artist sitting at an easel in front of the painting of a couple in the landscape (Indoor Plein Air), and, in another instance, depict him seated with a drink at the table of a sidewalk café (Porter og Citronvand), which is situated in Matvey Slavin´s new adopted hometown, Copenhagen.The subdued chiaroscuro hues of the latter scene prefigure those in the series Die maskierten Ostergenießer (The Masked Easter Enjoyers, 2020), which is dominated by grisaille tones, evoking the inversion of photographic negative images and half-tones of aquatint ink etching. On the one hand, it recalls an Easter ritual celebrated by the family of Matvey Slavin´s partner and collaborator in joint performances, the Copenhagen-born artist Nana Rosenørn Holland Bastrup. On the other hand, in its phantasmagoric imagery with the figures costumed as Easter bunnies and chicks, gathered around opulently laden tables and folding chairs in the garden, it tilts into the surreal.
In a different manner, the series Blumenköpfe (Flower Heads, from 2020 onward), in which flowers equipped with heads instead of calyxes are depicted in vases bearing facial features, also revolves around masks, which gained acute relevance in 2020 in the context of the coronavirus pandemic. While the work Blaue Blumenköpfe (Blue Flower Heads, 2020) recalls Van Gogh's Sunflowers (1888), other flower-head conglomerates invoke the masked beings of the Belgian Symbolist James Ensor (1860–1949). A large-format interior scene, finally, created in 2020 and titled Я рисую, следовательно, я есьм. I draw, therefore I am, may be interpreted as a kind of aesthetic program of the artist. In a crimson-hued studio sphere, central representations of art and cultural history, such as the prehistoric Venus of Willendorf, ancient Egyptian figures, or a painting by the Dutch constructivist Piet Mondrian (1872–1944) are united: Like a visual network of inspiration, they enter into a dialogue on the wall of the represented room with some of Matvey Slavin´s Engraved Paintings from the groups mentioned earlier. The artist himself, his face hidden by an Ensor mask, is gazing out at the viewer. In front of him, a laptop is placed on top of the table, and next to it a vase of Flower Heads, accompanied by a Russian Cheburashka doll. On the wall to the side, the line: Я рисую = я есьм (Engl.: I draw = I am) is displayed in Old Russian on a television screen.
Here, as both the author and subject of his work, Matvey Slavin in a way becomes one with his “pictorial notes on life.”6 His “documents for our time,”7 where he embarks on a cognitive quest into the deeper dimensions behind the appearances of reality, simultaneously serve as repositories of transcultural, era-spanning memory and as sites of exploring his own existence and self-understanding as a painter traversing the tracks of contemporary modern life.
Belinda Grace Gardner, 2020
_______________
1Cf. Gottfried Boehm, “Bild und Zeit,” in: Das Phänomen Zeit in Kunst und Wissenschaft, ed. by Hannelore Paflik, Weinheim: VCH, Acta Humaniora, 1987, p. 18.
2Ibid., p. 21.
3Matvey Slavin in a telephone conversation with the author on November 30, 2020.
4Ibid.
5Cf. Roland Barthes: Die helle Kammer. Bemerkung zur Photographie, from the French by Dietrich Leube, Frankfurt/Main: Suhrkamp Verlag, p. 126. [Emphasis in the original].
6Cf. Uwe M. Schneede: Die Kunst des Surrealismus. Malerei, Skulptur, Dichtung, Fotografie, Film, Munich: C.H. Beck, 2006, p. 114.
7Matvey Slavin in a telephone conversation with the author (see note 3).
8Ibid.
[All Engl. quotes are the author's translation from the German.]
MatWay - Paintings - Neo-Grattage - Engraved Paintings
MatWay - Drawings
Current
Upcoming
29.4-30.5.2023
Group Show
Corner Udstillingen
Gammelgaard, Herlev, Denmark
MatWay - News
MatWay - Exhibition views
MatWay - CV
1987 born in Saint Petersburg, Russia
2000 moved to Hamburg, Germany
2017 moved to Copenhagen, Denmark, where he lives and works today
Education
2011 graduated from Hamburg University of Applied Sciences Design, Media and Information (prof. Erhard Göttlicher)
2015 graduated from University of Fine Arts of Hamburg (prof. Markus Vater)
2013-2014 attended a semester at Academy of Fine Arts Vienna (prof. Daniel Richter)
Artist-in-residence / work grants
2014-2015 at Künstlerhaus Meinersen, DE-Meinersen (1 year)
2016 at Künstlerhaus im Schlossgarten, DE-Cuxhaven (6 months)
2018 at Katholische Akademie Schwerte, DE-Schwerte (3 months)
Group exhibitions (selected)
2022 UDS 22 - Ung Dansk Samtidstkunst, Kunstbygningen, Vrå, Denmark
KP 22 - Kunstnernes Påskeudstilling, Kunsthal Aarhus, Denmark
Pleinair Ausstellung 7 Malen Dölln, Galerie im Neuen Rathaus, Templin, Germany
2021 REMIX #7, kunstmix Pop-Up, Galleri Fjellvang, Copenhagen, Denmark
Galleri47s Juleudstilling, Galleri47, Næstved, Denmark
The Krunchist Movement III, Blaa Galleri, Copenhagen, Denmark
The Beginning Galleri 47, Næstved, Denmark
Krunchist Movement II, Blaa Galleri, Copenhagen, Denmark
7 malen Uckermark Pleinairmalerei in Gross Dölln, Galerie Hennwack, Berlin, Germany
The Krunchist Movement, Blaa Galleri, Copenhagen, Denmark
Between Waves, Blaa Galleri, Copenhagen, Denmark
7 malen in Dölln. Ergebnisse eines Kuenstlertreffens, Kunstverein, Schwedt, Germany
Efter-Billeder, JANUS- Vestjyllands Kunstmuseum, Tistrup, Denmark
20 x Testimony Kunsthal, Vejle, Denmark
2020 Ohne Einschraenkung: KUNST, Galerie subjectobject, Berlin, Denmark
Lebenszeichen Katholische Akademie, Schwerte, Germany
Art of Giving. SIRIN Copenhagen Gallery, Copenhagen, Germany
Efter-billeder. SAK i sammenarbejde med Vestjyllands Kunstmuseum, Svendborg, Denmark
Corona Confinement Blues, Blaa Galleri, Copenhagen, Denmark
By og Land, Galleri 2132, Roslev, Denmark
2019 Remix #6, galleri kunstmix, Copenhagen, Denmark
Kunst im August, Galerie subject object, Berlin, Germany
Plein Air, Glyngoere Kulturstation-Museum, Salling, Denmark
Remix #5, galleri kunstmix, Copenhagen, Denmark
2018 Remix #4, galleri kunstmix, Copenhagen, Denmark
URBAN 2018, Maerz contemporary, Molde, Norway
Remix #3, galleri kunstmix, Copenhagen, Denmark
2017 Remix #2, galleri kunstmix, Copenhagen, Denmark
Artgeschoss 2017, ARTGESCHOSS, Berlin, Germany
Aus der Natur, Kunstverein, Barsinghausen, Germany
Remix #1, galleri kunstmix, Copenhagen, Denmark
Spurensuche, Kunstverein, Schwedt, Germany
Sommer in Hamburg, Galerie des Hotels Grand Elysee, Hamburg, Germany
3653 x JA, Galerie subject object, Berlin, Germany
2016 Die Farben des Winters, Museen im Kulturzentrum, Rendsburg, Germany
Die Farben des Winters, Kunsthaus Muellers, Rendsburg, Germany
2015 Erinnerung, Galerie Hengevoss-Duerkop, Hamburg, Germany
Sommersausstellung, Galerie Halbach, Celle, Germany
2014 Chill Out!, Galerie Hengevoss-Duerkop, Hamburg, Germany
Zimmer Frei, Museet paa Koldinghus, Kolding, Denamark
Wuk Exhibition Ubik Bueller-S Day Off, Ubic Space, Vienna, Austria
Xzbit - Die Ausstellung, projekthaus, Hamburg, Germany
Acchrochage, Galerie Rose, Hamburg, Germany
2013 KurtSalon, Galerie Kurt im Hirsch, Berlin, Germany
Norddeutsche Realisten - Meinersen 2013 - Eine Bestandaufnahme,
Kuenstlerhaus, Meinersen, Germany
Kunst am Bodden, Galerie der Farbrique, Gängeviertel, Hamburg, Germany
HEUTE,- Ultramarin, Galerie Hinterconti, Hamburg, Germany
Galore 2013, Valby Kulturhus, Copenhagen, Denmark
Kunst - Landschaft - Moelln neue Stadtansichten, Möllner Museum, Mölln, Germany
HEUTE,- Zitate und Zutaten, Galerie KUB, Leipzig, Germany
Kuenstler der Galerie, Kunsthaus Muellers, Rendsburg, Germany
Norddeutsche Realisten in Hohwacht, Kunsthaus Müllers, Rendsburg, Germany
Speicherplatz, Nullunendlich, Leipzig, Germany
HEUTE,- Groteske Wirklichkeit, Galerie affenfaust, Hamburg, Germany
2012 HEUTE,- Momente, Galerie Hafentor 7, Hamburg, Germany
Die Bionale - Zwischen Ackerbau und Hochkultur, Galerie der HFBK,
Hamburg, Germany
Zeitgeist, Fabrik der Kuenste, Hamburg, Germany
Macht Spass, Galerie Raum linksrechts, Hamburg, Germany
Ideen von Landschaft, Jenisch Haus, Hamburg, Germany
Pappdemokratie, Künstlerhaus Vorwerkstift. Hamburg, Germany
2011 Heute, Kunsthaus Speckstrasse, Gängeviertel, Hamburg, Germany
Galore 2011 - Valby Kulturhus, Copenhagen, Denmark
Antlitz, Bildnis, Conterfey, Frappant, Hamburg, Germany
2010 Experiment 010 - Kulturforum Schwimmhalle Schloss, Ploen, Germany
Hamburger Stadtteile, Fabrik der Künste, Hamburg, Germany
Zeitgenössischer Mythos, Kunsthaus Speckstrasse, Gaengeviertel, Hamburg,
Germany
2009 Cartel 21, Fabrik Gaengeviertel, Hamburg, Germany
2008 Russische Variationen, Stiftung Landdrostei, Pinneberg, Germany
wandsbektranformance. Die Gegenwart des Kolonialen. Kunsthaus, Hamburg,
Germany
Solo exhibitions
2022 Mat Vey - Neo-Grattage, Studio Kastelsvej, Copenhagen, Denmark
2021 SKAKMAT, Blaa Galleri, Copenhagen, Denmark
Tugend und Suende, Katholische Akademie, Schwerte, Denmark
2020 Tugend und Suende, Bank fuer Kirche und Caritas, Paderborn, Germany
2019 Copenhagen Open Air, galleri kunstmix, Copenhagen, Denmark
2018 Image Hunter, galleri kunstmix, Copenhagen, Denmark
Image Hunter, Katholische Akademie, Schwerte, Germany
2017 Fiction Factory, galleri kunstmix, Copenhagen, Denmark
2016 Geflasht von Trash, Galerie OST-ART im Kulturring, Berlin, Germany
2011 Hamburger Landschaften, Galerie Kunst-nah, Hamburg, Germany
2008 Die Elbe von der Speicherstadt bis Blankenese - KulturForum Altona, Hamburg, Germany
Duo exhibitions (selected)
*(ET = Enfants Terribles - Nana Bastrup & Matvey Slavin)
2020
Greifbar, BLAA Galleri, Copenhagen, Denmark
2019
Open Up, Galerie subjectobject, Berlin, Germany
2018
ET - Yellow Popdada, galleri kunstmix, Copenhagen, Denmark
ET - Red Popdada, galleri kunstmix, Copenhagen, Denmark
2017
ET - Von nix kommt nix, galleri kunstmix, Copenhagen, Denmark
ET - Popdadaistische Blabla- & Laufbilder, Galerie 149, Bremerhaven, Germany
ET - Berliner Kuriositaeten, Studio Bildende Kunst im Kulturring, Berlin, Germany
ET - Popdada-Dadapop, galleri kunstmix, Copenhagen, Denmark
2016
ET - Popdada, Galerie subject-object, Berlin, Germany
ET - Laufbilder - Cuxhavener Kuriositäten, Künstlerhaus im Schloßgart, Cuxhaven, Denmark
ET - Wir sind soweit, Kuenstlerhaus im Schloßgarten, Cuxhaven, Germany
ET - Enfants Terribles, Huset, Asnaes, Denmark
2015
ET - Kribbel-Krabbel, Künstlerhaus, Meinersen, Germany
2014
ET - Laufbilder, Ubik Space, AT-Vienna
ET - Laufbilder & Videoskulpturen, Galerie Hengevoss-Dürkop. Hamburg, Germany
ET - Kinder der Louise B., Kunstverein Barsinghausen, Germany
2013
ET - Viking Revival, Galleri Labr, Roskilde, Denmark
ET - Inszenierte Träume I + II, Galerie Kurt im Hirsch, Berlin, Germany
2012
ET - Vernetzt, Bräuning Contemporary, Hamburg, Germany
Mensch und Ware, Altonaer Museum, Hamburg, Germany
Public Happening / Duo Enfants Terribles (selected)
2016
23.04. - 25.07. ET - Wir sind soweit, seid Ihr bereit?, Künstlerhaus im Schlossgarten, Cuxhaven, Germany
2015
27.08. ET - Kære gallerist, Bredgade, Copenhagen, Denmark
2014
01.08. ET - Die sieben Matveys, by the Nanas, Leineufer, Hannover, Germany
28.03. - 01.04. ET - Aufstieg der Ameisen, Künstlerhaus Meinersen, Meinersen, Germany
2012
31.08.ET - Konsumschwein, Fischmarkt - Elbphilharmonie, Hamburg, Germany
10.05. ET -Enfants Terribles, Aussenplateau der Hamburger Kunsthalle, Hamburg, Germany
Catalogues/books (selected)
2022
REMIX #7, Matvey Slavin: s. 29-87 Tekst: Harald Holst, Jegor Fetisov
Published by: kunstmix, Copenhagen, Denmark
ISBN 978-87-93898-03-5
2021
Matvey Slavin: SKAKMAT Tekst: Harald Holst
Published by: Blaa Press, Copenhagen, Denmark
ISBN 978-87-973618-0-1
2019
Matvey Slavin: Copenhagen Open Air
Published by: kunstmix Copenhagen, Denmark
Texts: Nana Bastrup, Tom Joergensen
German, English, 84 pages
ISBN 978-87-93898-00-4
2018
Matvey Slavin: Image Hunter
Published by: Stefanie Lieb, Verlag Katholische Akademie, Schwerte, Germany
Texts: Peter Klasvogt, Stefanie Lieb
German, 88 pages
ISBN 978-3-927382-76-3
2017
Aus der Natur - Nana ET Matvey + Maike Graef
Published by: Kunstverein Barsinghausen, Germany
Text: Friedrich Holtiegel
German, 30 pages
ISBN: 978-3-945527-08-5
2016
ET - Popdada
Published by: Galerie subject object, Berlin, Germany
Text: Ljiljana Vulin-Hinrichs
German, 36 pages
Unique drawings, limited numbered, signed edition
2016
ET - Laufbilder - Cuxhavener Kuriositäten
Published by and Text: Nana Bastrup & Matvey Slavin, Cuxhaven, Germany,
36 pages
Unique drawing, limited numbered, signed edition
2015
Katalog Hamburger Landschaften
Publisher by: Akademiker Verlag, Germany
52 pages
ISBN 978-3-639-86498-4
2015
Zeitbilder - Matvey Slavin
Published by: Irmgard Bösenberg, Meinersen, Germany
Text: Belinda Grace Gardner
48 pages
ISBN 978-3-00-050176-0.
2015
ET - Footwork
Published by: Galerie Hengevoss-Dürkop, Hamburg, Germany
Text: Kerstin Hengevoss-Dürkop, John Czaplicka, Matthias Schatz
English, 80 pages + DVD
ISBN: 978-3-00-049805-3
2015
ET - 3 Years Enfants Terribles
Published by: Nana Bastrup, Matvey Slavin, Meinersen, Germany
Text: Kerstin Hengevoss-Dürkop, John Czaplicka, Michael Stöber,
Merle Radtke, Hanna Richter-Kiewning, Friedrich Holtiegel
Danish, English, German, Russian, 344 pages
ISBN: 978-3-00-049034-7
2014
ET - Enfants Terribles
Published by: Nana Bastrup & Matvey Slavin, Hamburg, Germany
Text: Michael Stoeber
German, English, 100 pages
ISBN: 978-3-00-047552-8
Unique drawing, limited, numbered, signed edition
2014
ET - Enfants Terribles - Kinder der Louise B.
Published by: Kunstverein Barsinghausen, Germany
Text: Friedrich Holtiegel, Joachim Voss
German, 31 pages
ISBN: 978-3-945527-00-9
2014
ET - Laufbilder
Published by: Nana Bastrup & Matvey Slavin, Hamburg, Germany
Text: Viola F. Holtz, Hanna Richter-Kiewning
German, 100 pages
ISBN: 978-3-00-045152-2
2014
ZIMMER FREI Unge kunstnere genopdager kongeslottet
Publisher: Axel Johnsen & Museet paa Koldinghus, Denmar
Texts: Anders Scrmn Meisner, Anna Bak, Axel Johnsen, Dan Stockholm, Eske Rex, Jacob Taekker, Lotte Agger, Mia Helmer,
Mie Lund Hansen, Michael Wuertz Overbeck, Nanna Riis Andersen, Nana Bastrup & Matvey Slavin, Niels Pugholm, Nina
Saunders, Søren Behncke, Timo Andersen, Ulla Bech-Bruun
Danish, 17 pages
ISBN: 978-87-87152-64-8
2014
Meinersen - Eine Bestandaufnahme
Publisher: Dirk Bösenberg, Ernst Posselt. Meinersen, Germany, 121 pages
ISBN 978-3-00-046560-4
2013
KUNST LANDSCHAFT MÖLLN - Neue Stadtansichten
Publisher: Stadt Mölln/ Moellner Museum Historisches Rathaus. Mölln. 2013
Text: Michael Packheiser
German, 44 pages
2012
ET - Enfants Terribles
Published by: Bräuning Contemporary, Hamburg, Germany
Text: Till Bräuning
German, 25 pages
ISBN: 978-3-00-039981-7
2012
Die Norddeutschen Realisten. Symposium 2012 in Hohwacht am Genueser Schiff
Publisher: MCM ART Verlag, Berlin 2012
Editor: Christopher Lehmpfuhl, Berlin
Text: Uwe Haupenthal
German, 92 pages
ISBN 978-39815169-3-7
2011
Matvey Slavin - Hamburger Landschaften
Publisher: Matvey Slavin. Hamburg, Germany
German, 38 pages
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