Maurice Matieu: Shadows
By Ellen Hall
Here is an homage to the green world, but with trunks and leaves pencilled in red, orange and purple. A closer look reveals a disturbing element. Eccentric, phantom-like shapes merge with the branches and incongruous pairs of feet mingle by the roots. You wonder why.
Move on to Matieu’s oil paintings which seem to depict bodies arrayed on a mosaic of brightly coloured beach towels. The resulting kaleidoscope of colour and form is a series he calls “Shadows”.
In another experiment he asked people to photograph their own hands free of any personal objects. When he displayed the collection, no one could pick out their own hands! Makes one wonder. Are we only shadows of our own flesh?
Go and see these hauntingly beautiful images for yourself. “Ombres” by Maurice Mathieu is at the Musée d’art modern at Collioure until 30 January 2011.