Art & DesignAPR 9, 2018

Paintings Of Statues Mocked With Modern Objects

In his series ‘Monumental Nobodies’, award-winning Australian artist Matthew Quick utilizes a conceptual approach to reveal the pressing issues of society by distorting images of power with gentle humor.

Punctuating an arc through triumph and failure, the monuments that map the rise and fall of Empires seem somehow more poignant when the event for which they were created has faded into history. With their conscious symbolism, they provide the foundation for a revisionist take on the notions of beauty, pride, and nationalism.

The aura of emperors and gods are eliminated by adding ordinary objects to replace their crowns and thrones, turning them into powerless nobodies. Matthew references individual freedom, social control, surveillance and the deceitful behavior of rulers who intentionally fail to act as they speak. In ridiculing them he plays with their initial grand goals and provides a refreshing look at the original motivations.

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