Matt Smart Sculpture and Installation Artist

Patina, Provenance, Origins, and Techniques....

These two sculptures are available for purchase during September and October 2020.
Sales support the propagation of art and culture: 30% goes towards creating an artist residency, 10% will go to the Cornelius Arts Foundation.
The two sculptures available are 'Ghost' and 'Growth'. As well as having a remarkably strong visual presence, these works have an unusual construction technique and journey.

If you are interested in viewing the sculptures, you may contact the artist to arrange to see them.

Ghost

The lightest sculpture you will ever touch. Strong, startling, and mystifying. The Ghost is 'life'-size and weighs only slightly more than air. It is truly ghost-like.
Of complex construction, the sculpture stands tall, strong yet apparently delicate, with intricate form and translucency.
For high resolution, download the image files

Size: 180 x 60 x 65 cm
Weight: 1.6 kg (the same volume of air would weight 0.8kg, so this sculpture is only twice as heavy as its body of air).
Medium: Bioresin and cotton
Insights into 'Ghost's unusual construction technique can be provided on contacting the artist.

The 'Ghost' can be installed indoors simply by positioning the sculpture where desired in a room. The sculpture stands alone, self-supporting without a plinth. Lightness means that it can very easily be relocated as you wish.
Outdoors installation: The sculpture has hidden fixing points to attach to the ground, and it can be installed directly on the ground, or raised slightly from the ground, as if hovering just above the ground.
The construction is fully waterproof. It is weather resistant, and is highly weather-proof for at least 2 years. Unlike stone there is no chance of frost damage. Like any sculpture, it is likely to become stained if installed under trees. It is waterproof. Materially it will last several years.
Bioresin is an environmentally friendly equivalent of polyester resin as used in lightweight vehicle construction, and boat-building, for durability, toughness and waterproof properties.
Bioresin is a plant-derived, non-toxic equivalent, costing approximately 5 times the price of polyester resin.
Outdoor installations must be wary of wind levels. The sculpture is very light, and should be installed somewhere that is not subject to high winds (e.g. a hillside). Most park or garden locations are fully suitable to display the sculpture.

The purpose of offering these sculptures for sale...
The title of this page is "Now and then and in between". These sculptures and their moments represent points in a journey, from then to now, with moments and learnings in between. I wish to develop my part of their journey into further propagation of art and culture by funding organisations I believe in, and by developing an artist residency to invite an artist to a location and work in an area which may bear some relation to the underlying principles of these works.
Below is a photograph of a page of a letter I wrote to my father, which my sister found in part of my father's legacy. It describes quite well the intention to blend creation with action, which I wish to begin in a new way through offering these sculptures for sale, where they can continue their journey, and raise more stories.

Growth

A tough, durable outdoor statement, with heritage from street art tours in London Shoreditch, a parish churchyard, and music and arts festivals.
For high resolution, download image files

'Growth' was installed at St Laurence's Church, Ludlow, Shropshire. St Laurence's is the regional Parish Church. The installation was a collaboration between the Ludlow Art Society, Ludlow Fringe Festival, the Parish Church, and the artist.
At that point the sculpture was in plain earth (molehills) coating, without the later additions of street art paint and cave art handprints.

'Growth' was installed in a street art zone in Shoreditch, London (the UK's capital for street art). It was decorated, and a small collective added cave art hands, including alien versions suggesting an interaction between prehistoric humans and beings from other planets, captured on the earth fist as a symbol.

Size: 180 x 60 x 50 cm
Medium: Molehills. Wooden armature with stainless steel and galvanised wire. Fibreglass. Polyurethane paints (street art spraycans). Stainless steel fixings

In honour of the street art tour and the totemic heritage of interaction between cultures, a sculpture ritual blessing was conducted.

When originally made and displayed, 'Growth' won the Oxfordshire 2016 'Change the World' competition. The exhibition was in Oxford's Town Hall. Among 200 entrants, the sculpture won the prize for 'Most impactful artwork', and won the overall Grand Prize.

Gallery

See @mattsmartart for more images, with narratives around new pieces, events, and works in progress.
Urban and lane art, exhibitions, music and arts festivals. Technical sculpting method innovations using sustainable compounds and bio-based materials with lower environmental impact, and greater versatility than traditional sculpting techniques.