Exhibitions & Events
EVENT CANCELLED : 4April - 31May 2020 Creating Spaces 2020 Sculpture Exhibition
Abbey House Gardens, Malmesbury, Wiltshire, UK. Group exhibition with Cotswold Sculptors Association
30May-1June 2020 UPFEST
Europe's largest street art festival. 300 artists. I am one of 3 European sculptors selected. Bristol, UK
EVENT CANCELLED : 20June - 5July 2020 Ludlow Fringe Festival Over 150 performances. I am resident exhibitor as 'The 5th Plinth', the main sculptural installation of this annual town and regional Festival
EVENT CANCELLED : 20June-5July 2020 Ludlow Fringe Arts Trail Co-organiser, co-curator, and exhibitor
9-12July 2020 Noisily Festival Mind Body Soul area central installation and garden.
1-2August 2020 Art In The Park Royal Leamington Spa, UK. Commissioned for the main sculptural and landscape installations of the annual regional arts festival. 50,000 weekend attendance expected. Contributes £2M to the regional economy. Very high visitor satisfaction ratings.
EVENT CANCELLED : 4April - 31May 2020 Creating Spaces 2020 Sculpture Exhibition
Abbey House Gardens, Malmesbury, Wiltshire, UK. Group exhibition with Cotswold Sculptors Association
30May-1June 2020 UPFEST
Europe's largest street art festival. 300 artists. I am one of 3 European sculptors selected. Bristol, UK
EVENT CANCELLED : 20June - 5July 2020 Ludlow Fringe Festival Over 150 performances. I am resident exhibitor as 'The 5th Plinth', the main sculptural installation of this annual town and regional Festival
EVENT CANCELLED : 20June-5July 2020 Ludlow Fringe Arts Trail Co-organiser, co-curator, and exhibitor
9-12July 2020 Noisily Festival Mind Body Soul area central installation and garden.
1-2August 2020 Art In The Park Royal Leamington Spa, UK. Commissioned for the main sculptural and landscape installations of the annual regional arts festival. 50,000 weekend attendance expected. Contributes £2M to the regional economy. Very high visitor satisfaction ratings.
2019 exhibitions 5Oct-9Nov19 ‘Reinvention’ Turrill Sculpture Garden, Oxford UK An exhibition of outdoor sculpture, with a diversity of materials and techniques. The theme of the show was the use of recycled and re-purposed materials, and related metaphors. The exhibition included artists who experienced homelessness, who sculpted using recycled and found items during art workshops led by artists Jodie Lamb and Lucy Proctor, at Crisis Skylight Oxford. They experimented with a range of materials to explore the theme of reinvention, both personally and in the natural world. The works were created collaboratively but also explored each artist’s unique perspective. Turrill Sculpture Garden is in Summertown, Oxford. Crisis is the national charity for homeless humans, providing vital help, and campaigning, so that people can rebuild their lives and are supported out of homelessness for good. For more information about Matt Smart's work see this page that you're looking at... click about. Go wild. Turrill: https://www.turrillsculpturegarden.org.uk/
NOW CLOSED UNTIL April 2020:
Cotswold Sculpture Park, UK Apr19 to 30 Sept 2019. Exhibited 4 pieces, with 45 sculptors from 8 countries, Total of 165 sculpture pieces in the Park's annual exhibition.. Bio, works & prices: cotswoldsculpturepark.co.uk/matt-smart Music and Arts Festivals
Art In The Park festival 1-3 August 2019
Royal Leamington Spa, UK. 45,500 footfall. 240 exhibiting artists, plus performers and musicians. I was the commissioned guest sculptor for the entire Festival, with 6 major pieces across the site, and an artist's talk. Testimonial "Matt, Thanks for taking part with your wonderful sculptures, we and the 45,500 visitors loved them !! You were so lovely and thoughtful to work with and we really enjoyed your company and creativity." - Carole Sleight, Director of Leamington Art In The Park Festival and Community Interest Company, August 2019 Coverage of Art In The Park: BBC Midlands video (and mp4 download below) Video by Royal Leamington Spa www.youtube.com/watch?v=ByveikLQzBc 
Noisily Festival, UK 11th-15th July 2019
3 sculptures in the 'Mind, Body, Soul' area. 6,000 attendance. 
8th June 2019 Oddball Visionary Festival summer ball, Oxfordshire UK. I provided and installed the decor and sculptures for the main garden, and (leading the decor, with contributions from a decor and props colleague) for the main stage and its room.
'Present Perfect Continuous', London, 9-14Nov18.
Group show with international gallery. Curated by ArtNumber23 at The Biscuit Factory studios. 
Performance artist: (my guest at the opening show): Lou Barnell https://www.loubarnell.co.uk/
13Sep19 Masterclass Talk + networking
B4 Business open event: MASTERCLASS #33 with MATT SMART: "The Arts and Oxfordshire's Skills Retention". 12-1:30pm @ B4 HQ, Oxfordshire. Includes drinks and lunch, artist talk & discussion. B4 is Oxfordshire's business network. £13.25/ticket for non-members Most recent magazine coverage :
“Modern Art" 2-page feature Apr19 issue 57, Global Leaders Edition (p.110-111). "Brand Connection" feature, and why sponsor artists. In B4 Business magazine September 2018 issue 54, Focus Edition (page 121).. Exhibition, 27Sep to 3Nov18
Group show 'The Great Divide', at OVADA
(Oxfordshire Visual Arts Development Agency). New York curatorship. Times of unrest, fights, divisions, reactions, and what we can do.
Support is welcome for a follow-up show in 2019, developing further solutions as situations evolve. Please contact me if you wish to support this collective endeavour. Images from the show: 
Writing and media
I am the occasional Arts contributor for B4 magazine. B4 is Oxfordshire's monthly magazine for all of Oxfordshire's businesses, infrastructure and networks, covering hospitality, law, property management, retail, governance, transport, employment, tourism, care work, services, arts, and all aspects of Oxfordshire's businesses and business community.. Next feature: October 2018 issue. LAS monthly 'Spotlight' article on any art topic of my choice. 'Flying Houses' - Apr18 'Water' - Mar18 'Peter Doig - current painter' - Feb18 'Constable's scale (Realism with Bells On, part 2)' - Jan18 'Realism with bells on - Watercolours, 'So Fear' the robot, and Jakub Rozalski' - Dec17 'Celebrating the heroic' - Nov17 'Earth, Fire, and liquid sunlight' - Oct17 'Marcel Duchamp (part 2 of 2): Elsa von Freytag-Loringhoven, and making things happen - including correction and further details and thoughts' - Sep17 If there is a topic you wish to read about through my interpretations then get in touch. Illuminate the Gardens
4-5Nov17 Botanical Gardens, Sheffield. 10,000 footfall. Commissioned by the Events Collective. New event, intended to establish as an annual event, with rollout to other cities. High-end fireworks night with entertainment including a brochured art trail. Commissioned to install 6 of the 8 pieces in the Art Trail. Ground crew of 50 staff. Event fully sold, with long waiting list. Invited onto committee for future events.
 Image courtesy of That's Oxfordshire TV
Interview, 'Matt Smart's Artistic Vision'
with Hanisha Sethi, That's Oxfordshire TV August 2016. The interview includes brief explanations of several works: 'Ghost', 'We Met One Day', 'Muffin of Lascaux', and 'Truths'. Deep thanks for Hanisha's appreciation of the motivations and beliefs and endeavours of everyone that her crew interviews - and not just for hearing the words and getting the works, but for seeing between the words and the sculptures and the person who makes them. |
Label of the month, London
Installation at Rough Trade Records, Shoreditch, London 15Aug-24Sep18 Record Label celebration and promotion in what is probably the most respected, prestigious and on-point record store in the UK: Rough Trade Records store outlet, Brick Lane, Shoreditch. A commissioned 2 metre x 3 metre installation for the music label and distributor's UK flagship store, for a 6-week showcase of Rocket Recordings label. https://www.instagram.com/p/Bmf08_5BGOt/ 
Upfest
Europe's largest Street Art and Graffiti Festival 28-30Jul18, Bristol, UK Selected as one of the 400 artists for this year's Upfest. Approx 120 artists from overseas, plus about 280 street artists from within the UK. 50,000 - 70,000 footfall is typical. I am a rare inclusion of a sculptor. Artists paint, stencil, and create art live, in situ, make collaborations, and entertain, and produce some of the most stunning street art. The big street art fest. I'll be sculpting and moulding and casting. Attending with Sam Manley, illustrator and, until recently, Chairman of the LAS (Ludlow Art Society). Preparation currently involves working on production techniques for paving slab-based pieces, brick sculpture casts, and additions to the Ghost series. Game on. https://www.upfest.co.uk/artist/term/upfest-2018 Showing as Bedda Smart Film of Upfest 2017: https://youtu.be/pIsRz698Xyo 
Rocket Recordings 20
- the record label's birthday 3-day party 9-11Mar18 Record Label's birthday party bash, featuring nearly all their current signed bands, plus many offshoot projects and DJ sessions. Commissioned to make a large wall sculpture of the record label's logo for the 3-day event. 
Rocket Recordings is home to 30 bands from Sweden, UK, and Italy. The label specialises in high quality production, design, and vinyl.
Thanks to and from the record label management, with pictures, is at ttps://www.facebook.com/rocket.recordings.uk/photos/a.223811371033611.55390.108638689217547/1606507646097303/?type=3 
Artist in Residence and The Fifth Plinth 24Jun-2Jul17 Co-ordinated with with Ludlow Fringe Festival, St Laurence's Parish church, and Ludlow Art Society, Ludlow, UK. Installation pieces, community engagement and sculpture production. 
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Solo exhibition 4-25Jun16 The Turrill Sculpture Garden
Venue: South Parade, Oxford, OX2 7JN. Exhibition was a feature in Low Carbon Oxford Week
Turrill is a beautiful garden, with a very unusual sensation that you're not quite on the same planet. New works shown: 'We met one day', 'DJ Monkey' (appearing at the opening as MC Sticks), 'Truths', 'Muffin of Lascaux', 'Ghost' (first formal showing), and 'The Kiss Table'.
Venue: South Parade, Oxford, OX2 7JN. Exhibition was a feature in Low Carbon Oxford Week
Turrill is a beautiful garden, with a very unusual sensation that you're not quite on the same planet. New works shown: 'We met one day', 'DJ Monkey' (appearing at the opening as MC Sticks), 'Truths', 'Muffin of Lascaux', 'Ghost' (first formal showing), and 'The Kiss Table'.
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Press and media coverage
BBC coverage, 2019 BBC NEWS - Cherokee Chairs "All the rage" BBC Midlands film - 'Art In The Park'
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Video by Royal Leamington Spa August 2019 www.youtube.com/watch?v=ByveikLQzBc
'Brand Connection' B4 Business magazine 'Focus Edition', September 2018 feature, page 121
https://issuu.com/b4-business/docs/b4-magazine-focus-edition
'Modern Bold Sculpture' B4 Business magazine, November 2017, 2 page spread, pages 108-109
https://issuu.com/b4-business/docs/b4-issue-49
In Oxford magazine, October 2017, 2 page spread, pages 31-32
https://issuu.com/in_oxford_magazine/docs/inoxford_oct_2017
'Sculpture Takes Flight From Ludlow' Interview article, Ludlow Advertiser, July 2017
http://www.ludlowadvertiser.co.uk/news/15409110.Sculpture_takes_flight_from_Ludlow/
'The Fist' Interview for The Welsh Space Agency and Telegraph Pole Films https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TlGcdvyCZ_Y&t=5s
'Matt Smart's Artistic Vision' with Hanisha Sethi, That's Oxfordshire TV August 2016
'Brand Connection' B4 Business magazine 'Focus Edition', September 2018 feature, page 121
https://issuu.com/b4-business/docs/b4-magazine-focus-edition
'Modern Bold Sculpture' B4 Business magazine, November 2017, 2 page spread, pages 108-109
https://issuu.com/b4-business/docs/b4-issue-49
In Oxford magazine, October 2017, 2 page spread, pages 31-32
https://issuu.com/in_oxford_magazine/docs/inoxford_oct_2017
'Sculpture Takes Flight From Ludlow' Interview article, Ludlow Advertiser, July 2017
http://www.ludlowadvertiser.co.uk/news/15409110.Sculpture_takes_flight_from_Ludlow/
'The Fist' Interview for The Welsh Space Agency and Telegraph Pole Films https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TlGcdvyCZ_Y&t=5s
'Matt Smart's Artistic Vision' with Hanisha Sethi, That's Oxfordshire TV August 2016
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Image courtesy of mcln art
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Street Art project, Nomadic Community Gardens, Shoreditch, London 28Aug16-Dec17
Collaborative installations with a London-based street artist |
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Image courtesy of Nomadic Community Gardens
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Arts writing: the Monthly Spotlight I write the monthly Spotlight article for the LAS. Examples (click titles to go to the each article): Heroics, Duchamp and the KLF, Jackson Pollock is the Canvas, Pinhole camera revelations, Polly Morgan Taxidermist, What Art did the Obamas bring into the White House?, Satire and Connectivity, Art that inspired film-makers
Bring Your Own Beamer (BYOB) with @LumatecVisuals. 4-5Feb17
VJ lightworker showcase and dance night, Foodies, Northampton, UK
VJ lightworker showcase and dance night, Foodies, Northampton, UK
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Winner of the 2016 'Change the World' competition, Poseytude Gallery, Oxfordshire Artweeks, in Oxford's Town Hall. Winner of the Grand Prize, and two regional prizes. Click here for the Broadcast article and interview.
Behavioural change sculpture trail, The Carbon Innovation Programme – Sculpting Hearts and Minds Roaming installations on carbon impact awareness, and highlighting carbon reduction solutions, projects and technologies. Dates tbc. Oxford. Includes behaviour change evaluation and evidence gathering, to inform funding strategies, courtesy of a consultancy organisation. Club installations at The Psychedelic Circus, 24Sep16 Installations at a nightclub event. Colaboration with Samantha Wadham 14 Hour Super Weird Happening 1Apr17
Festival, performances, music, decor, psychedelic Discordian happening and club night, with Greg Wilson, Alan Moore, the Superweird Substance crew, Salena Godden, Horton Jupiter, and various UK crews. The Florrie, Liverpool, UK |
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Festival 23 22-24Jul16 Installations across the festival site, and an artist's talk festival23.org.uk
Oxford Town Hall show for Oxford Artweeks 7-28May16
Winner of the 'Change The World' art competition run by Poseytude Gallery.
Oxford Artweeks comprises about 500 artists across 400 venues. I exhibited two works, in the gallery in the central Town Hall, and won 3 of the 10 prizes, including the Grand Prize. https://www.artweeks.org/festival/2016/poseytude-gallery
Borde Hill Sculpture Exhibition 2015 1May-1Sep15
The annual exhibition of outdoor works hosted by Mr and Mrs Stephenson Clarke at Borde Hill in West Sussex, UK. 13 national sculptors were selected for the annual exhibition. Matt Smart exhibited 4 sculptures. Footfall: 20,000
Ludlow Fringe Festival 2015 Town arts festival, 13Jun-5Jul15
The Forbidden Room, Ludlow. Exhibited "Cherokee Chairs" and "Many Happy Returns". (The Cherokee Chairs exhibited a painting, 'Dove Siamo non e Importante'.). Footfall: 30,000 to the Festival, 2,000 to The Forbidden Room
Supernormal Festival, Berkshire, August 2015 Exhibited several sculptures across the site. Attendance 1,200
Shambala, August 2014 One of 6 artists in The Enchanted Woodland area. Attendance 15,000
Supernormal Festival, August 2014 Exhibited several sculptures and delivered a street art workshop
Oxford Town Hall show for Oxford Artweeks 7-28May16
Winner of the 'Change The World' art competition run by Poseytude Gallery.
Oxford Artweeks comprises about 500 artists across 400 venues. I exhibited two works, in the gallery in the central Town Hall, and won 3 of the 10 prizes, including the Grand Prize. https://www.artweeks.org/festival/2016/poseytude-gallery
Borde Hill Sculpture Exhibition 2015 1May-1Sep15
The annual exhibition of outdoor works hosted by Mr and Mrs Stephenson Clarke at Borde Hill in West Sussex, UK. 13 national sculptors were selected for the annual exhibition. Matt Smart exhibited 4 sculptures. Footfall: 20,000
Ludlow Fringe Festival 2015 Town arts festival, 13Jun-5Jul15
The Forbidden Room, Ludlow. Exhibited "Cherokee Chairs" and "Many Happy Returns". (The Cherokee Chairs exhibited a painting, 'Dove Siamo non e Importante'.). Footfall: 30,000 to the Festival, 2,000 to The Forbidden Room
Supernormal Festival, Berkshire, August 2015 Exhibited several sculptures across the site. Attendance 1,200
Shambala, August 2014 One of 6 artists in The Enchanted Woodland area. Attendance 15,000
Supernormal Festival, August 2014 Exhibited several sculptures and delivered a street art workshop
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The Fifth Plinth - "The Fist With No Name"
Solo exhibition, Jun-Jul16. Ludlow. Installation in church graveyard Public competition to name the sculpture Would you like to Name the sculpture? You can. The earth fist has asked if someone can give it a name. In May the Fist won the Grand Prize at the “Change The World” Art Competition, under the title ‘The Fist With No Name’. By the end of the Fringe it would like a new title, a new name. What would you call it? If you would like to suggest a name for the Fist, and maybe an explanation why, then email it to m@woah.eu or post it on facebook.com/mattsmartsculptor/ or Tweet your name suggestion to @MattSmartArt or Instagram it to mattsmartart Add a picture to illustrate your idea if you like, or a picture of you or friends in front of the Fist, enacting your name idea. |
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tbc 2018/19 "ITSUP". Street art and sculpture festival.
Oxford's first street art festival. To include street artists, talks, pop-up exhibitions and interventions, academic seminars and workshops, and artist partnering events. Partnering events would be for businesses and other organisations interested in collaborating with artists and performers, particularly around brand identity, corporate social responsibility, and developing a more socially invested client base, informed by street art's theory and practice of communicating and visually branding social responsibility, and strengthening the identity and cohesion of dispersed communities. Contact the artist for more information.
Oxford's first street art festival. To include street artists, talks, pop-up exhibitions and interventions, academic seminars and workshops, and artist partnering events. Partnering events would be for businesses and other organisations interested in collaborating with artists and performers, particularly around brand identity, corporate social responsibility, and developing a more socially invested client base, informed by street art's theory and practice of communicating and visually branding social responsibility, and strengthening the identity and cohesion of dispersed communities. Contact the artist for more information.
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4Feb16 Artist talk open to the public, and the LA Society. 7pm-9:30pm
'Matt Smart - Land-based sculpture through cave and street: Life in Earth'. The Assembly Rooms, Mill St, Ludlow UK. SY8 1AZ. Student ticket subsidy for Matt Smart's talks is available through ITSUP C.I.C. social enterprise - contact the artist for details. As a result of changes I instigated at the talk the LA Society now includes student membership. |
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Low Carbon Oxford week Festival 11-19Jun16 lowcarbonoxford.org
Confirmed for 2018: Festival 23 Installations, decor, and event management Planned projects at present include: Wave project (Sponsors sought for materials costs. £1.2k of £3.4k so far raised.) Ghosts become Angels Street furniture designs based on human figures, for public installations Editions of reduced scale 'Many Happy Returns' and 'Growth' Urban and rural public site installations Pop-ups in collaboration with city gardens |
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Downloadable brochure of the Borde Hill Garden exhibition, 2015
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Brochure of Ludlow Fringe Festival Sculpture Trail exhibition
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L O V E project
LOVE means what? What is it? Loads of different types of love. We all have our own ideas of what “love” means. Let’s share it all. Send me videos or links to things that you think describe or illustrate love. Tell your frenz who might be interested – particularly folks who do video. |
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What is this about? I do sculpture and wall installations in clubs and bars and festivals, and I work with guys who project onto them – video jockeys, projection mappers… that kind of thing. You can communicate with the visuals, same as with music and dance. With this ‘ L O V E ‘ piece I figure it would be good to project onto it lots of different people’s and bands’ ideas of Love (https://youtu.be/VvP5RKMYvZo). It’s like making a DJ set that musicians and dancers contribute to, or a tapestry woven by many people.
Why “Love”? "Eskimos have 50 words for snow”... because there are lots of types of snow. There are so many types and sensations of love, except we have hardly any words. We should have more words for "love". If we haven’t got words, we can describe its feelings in other ways: through photos, music, video and sound. Please send videos of anything that expresses “LOVE” for you. Send URL links or mp4 or other video files. Landscape orientation please, and avoid too much content across the middle of the video as the sculpture has the word ‘LOVE’ cut out horizontally across the middle, so that’s an area where detail may be lost. Any length of video you want, though if your video is 2 hours you might be overcomplicating a cool, vital emotion.
This should get aired at festival fundraisers and club and bar nights in Shoreditch, then some fests across the year.
CopyrightⓀ stuff… If you send me something of yours, you’re agreeing for it to be shown publicly and in venues and all that. Ⓚ. I’m not doing this for money. I do it for… love. Post your videos here https://1drv.ms/f/s!ApK7dhj9FlEJgblf5bUqZoiyXyax7A, and send me video links as comments or messages or wall posts here https://www.facebook.com/mattsmartsculptor/posts/1832758020317759. May you all get the love you want, or the love you deserve. Thanks. Matt
Why “Love”? "Eskimos have 50 words for snow”... because there are lots of types of snow. There are so many types and sensations of love, except we have hardly any words. We should have more words for "love". If we haven’t got words, we can describe its feelings in other ways: through photos, music, video and sound. Please send videos of anything that expresses “LOVE” for you. Send URL links or mp4 or other video files. Landscape orientation please, and avoid too much content across the middle of the video as the sculpture has the word ‘LOVE’ cut out horizontally across the middle, so that’s an area where detail may be lost. Any length of video you want, though if your video is 2 hours you might be overcomplicating a cool, vital emotion.
This should get aired at festival fundraisers and club and bar nights in Shoreditch, then some fests across the year.
CopyrightⓀ stuff… If you send me something of yours, you’re agreeing for it to be shown publicly and in venues and all that. Ⓚ. I’m not doing this for money. I do it for… love. Post your videos here https://1drv.ms/f/s!ApK7dhj9FlEJgblf5bUqZoiyXyax7A, and send me video links as comments or messages or wall posts here https://www.facebook.com/mattsmartsculptor/posts/1832758020317759. May you all get the love you want, or the love you deserve. Thanks. Matt
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