CITY - Issue 60 - (Page 58)

CITIZENS: Matthew Stone Optimistic Rebellion Through art, Matthew Stone believes in the power to create social change By Ken Miller A The fuzzy, overly intense ambiance of the exhibitions felt as if he was trying to take the decadent vibe of his early club kid days and somehow make it real and permanent — creating a space where it is 5 a.m. forever. PORTRAIT BY DERRICK SANTINI FUTURE HINDSIGHT. / / / / , INSTALL ATION VIEW; HAPPINESS OF THEIR OWN, nd the winner for best blog title goes to . . . atthew Stone! s decla ations of pu pose go, the 25-yea -old B itish a tist’s “Optimism as Cultu al Rebellion” t umps even “Change We Can Believe In” fo its Obama-esque positivism. This slightly demented messianic tone is what sets Stone’s wo k apa t, a ef eshing espite f om the snide i onies of so many of the oung B itish tists who have sto med ou sho es ove the last decade. (Then again, soulless i ony is appa ently still a valuable a t ma ket commodity, based on Damien Hi st’s sales ﬁgu es.) What makes Stone’s slogan so powe ful is that he’s not kidding. He’s not totally se ious, eithe , but he’s not joking when he talks about the powe of a t to c eate social movements. s he puts it, “Sometimes you have to p etend to do something in o de to eally do it.” His ﬁ st b ush with noto iety came f om a seies of bacchanalian events he staged in London galle ies — o giastic public spectacles that seemed totally at odds with the glum times we live in. Titles such as “The Songs of the Sphe es in the Palm of ou Hand” hinted at his messianic ambitions. It was almost as if he was saying, “Hey, emembe when you thought life was g eat and ﬁlled with possibility? Well, let’s make it happen!” It’s a balance between the idiculous and evelato y that Stone desc ibes as being “pa t show man and pa t shaman.” nyone watching a galle y full of half-naked hipste s w ithe a ound on top of each othe wasn’t going to quibble ove the distinction. Stone’s ea ly, ene getically sloppy a t events we e pa t of the ‘new ave’ movement taking London by sto m, and he quickly gained attention as a membe of the !WOWOW! collective of a tists and designe s. But it took a minute fo people to ealize he was mo e than the DJ fo Ga eth Pugh’s out e fashion shows, and Stone’s a t wo ld c ed is a fai ly ecent development. s of a yea ago, he was still living ent f ee in a squat in London — though he gladly admits it was p etty nice as fa as illegal living situations go. Mo e impo tantly, living on the cheap allowed Stone an undeﬁ ned sense of ambition a e in most hype c itiqued a t school g ads. Because of that untamed ambition, pa t of the ea ly confusion with Stone’s wo k has been ﬁgu ing out just what exactly his a t consists of. His exhibitions have featu ed lovely Ca avaggio-esque photos on the walls, but the photos o en seem to be documents of past events. nd the photog aphic exhibitions we e mo e o en than not used as launching pads fo new and mo e spectacula events, sometimes involving hund eds of pa ticipants. In some ways, the f enzy a ound his wo k felt mo e like the intended a two k than some static images p inted on pape . s Stone says, the idea was to use the galle y to c eate “a hangout whe e things blu and people don’t ealize they’ve become a pa t of it.” The fuzzy, ove ly intense ambiance of the exhibitions felt as if he was t ying to take the decadent vibe of his ea ly club kid days and somehow make it eal and pe manent — c eating a space whe e it is 5 a.m. fo eve , a pe manent moment when you a e too buzzed and ecstatic to eally think st aight, but the wo ld seems both ove whelmingly exhausting and ﬁlled with inﬁnite possibilities. Stone has ecently begun exhibiting sculptu es made of natu ally-occu ing fools gold ove -layed with his photog aphs of w ithing pale bodies, so that the limbs become discombobulated and f actu ed. This fall, he exhibited the wo k on the oof of a ca pa k outside London, a venue that had the added appeal of opening the wo k up to the sky, which felt so much nice than letting it sit a ound a bo ing old galle y. Set in the bleakly post-indust ial envi onment, the pieces seem to w ithe and twist as they each towa ds the sky. Maybe we’ll still get the e yet. . COURTESY OF UNION LONDON

Table of Contents Feed for the Digital Edition of CITY - Issue 60

CITY - Issue 60 Contents Our Friends Action Wanted City Moment In Rogue Luscious Life Temporary Contemporary Fast Food Diary Leona Naess Matthew Stone Henrik V Ibskov Massimiliano Nogioni Young Bloods Keys to the Ferarri Fine Craftsmanship The New Frontier Conscious Evolution New World Order Spiral Casual Fridays Where to Buy It Cityscape

CITY - Issue 60

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