The Accidental Empires series by painter Matthew Quick investigates the power behind monuments and effectively undermines their seriousness. Well known monuments from around the world are altered with mundane objects such as cell phone tower antennas or clotheslines. However, the simple contrast between the commonplace and monumental is jarring. It undermines the grand stories behind the memorials and questions their purpose. In his statement, Quick says: “The ebb and flow of Empires can be determined by the monuments they leave. Periods of optimism are punctuated by statues that mythologise the success of the enterprise. Times of tragedy are marked by similarly mythologised affirmations of resilience, bravery and triumph over the odds. In time, these myths come to define the events themselves.”
Design Taxi
Daily Best Magazine, Italy
Esmoloda Magazine, Spain
The painting War Hero has been featured on the from cover of Art Equity's annual Investing and Collecting magazine. This magazine is distributed in collaboration with Fairfax Media, through all of the main Australian newspapers.
Art and Investment Cover
Works featured in respected online art magazine Hi Fructose
Paintings featured in the online art magazine Boooooooom
This is how they describe themselves: Booooooom was launched in 2008 by Vancouver-based artist Jeff Hamada. It is now Canada’s highest traffic art blog, and one of the largest on the Internet. The site has become an authoritative voice in the new contemporary arts scene, highlighting emerging talents, and launching the careers of many young artists internationally.
Works featured in the online art magazine Supersonic Electronic
Supersonic Electronic is an Art blog that seeks to chronicle the rise of the Electronic School of contemporary art. A movement defined by a generation of artists merging Illustration and Fine Art. By use of the Internet and other electronic means these artists have been exposed to endless amounts of aesthetic inspiration and saturated with pop culture their entire lives. With over 330,000+ Tumblr followers Supersonic Electronic is one of the most popular and most viewed Art blogs on the Internet.
iGANAT magazine story feature on Accidental Empires
iGNANT is an interdisciplinary Berlin-based blog featuring creatives in the fields of art, design, photography and architecture. The team behind iGNANT is dedicated to the picture, to moods and esthetics, finding its expression in our in-house productions of photographs, videos and original written content. Since its launch 2007 it steadily built up a strong esthetical identity, appealing readers from all over the world. In 2011 iGNANT won the ‘Golden Lead Award’ in the category ‘Weblog of the Year’ and was furthermore nominated for the ‘Grimme Online Award’.
The inspiration for the series ‘Accidental Empires’ by Matthew Quick, was the fall and rise of Empires in the history. ‘When the US seized Baghdad, the soldiers celebrated by destroying art. Removing contemporary politics, this destruction illustrates how little has changed psychologically in the 1500 years since the barbarian sack of Rome. With one notable difference. Rome was destroyed by uneducated warriors. In Baghdad, the event was stage-managed for TV’, he explains. His series shows ancient sculptures with odd requisites, which put them in a completely different light while depriving their solemn seriousness. The arising ironic undertone provides the perfect foundation for a revisionist take on the notions of beauty, pride, and nationalism.
Ready For My Close Up
New portrait of Hamish Blake, comedian, broadcaster, actor, writer and all round nice guy, featured in the Daily Telegraph.