Michele Mathison
Plot, 2015.
About:
Michele Mathison was born in 1977 in Johannesburg, South Africa and currently lives and works between Zimbabwe and South Africa.
He graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Fine Art Honors, Michaelis School of Fine Art, University of Cape Town, South Africa in 2000.
Lost Ground, 2015.
Recent solo shows include: Uproot, Tyburn Gallery, London, UK (2016); Harvest, Zeitz Museum of Contemporary Art Africa (Zeitz MOCAA), Scheryn Pavilion, Cape Town, South Africa (2015); Manual at Whatiftheworld, Cape Town, South Africa (2014) and Exit/Exile at Nirox Projects, Johannesburg, South Africa (2011)
Mathison has produced commissions for Carvela, Running in Circles (2012) and Slow Lounge, Carto/Graphic 1 (2011).(text Tyburn)
Chapungu Shiri yedenga (sky-bird). 2015.
Detail, 2015.
Contemporary Southern Africa forms an example of a distinct, and new social condition. One in which political and social borders define different political incarnations of African democracy and creates a vast transient community of displaced.
For over a decade, Michele Mathison has been living and working on both sides of the border between South Africa and Zimbabwe. His work is a study on the value of common objects and how they have developed into the prevalent imagery and symbols of the regions tumultuous times.
Fissure, 2016.
By removing the utility from functional objects, Mathison is presenting the irony of their transformation into a symbolic guise. Examining the form and function of quotidian objects, Mathison builds geometric groups and visual fields. Considering how an individual piece relates to the whole, the work creates a narrative of the region’s collective concerns.(text Whatiftheworld)