Matt Calderwood: Interrupted Projections
Sommer & Kohl, Berlin
2 March - 12 April 2014
‘From the press release’
Sommer & Kohl are pleased to present the first solo exhibition of new works by British artist Matt Calderwood.
The title of the exhibition Interrupted Projections refers to mapmaking processes which translate the curved, three-dimensional terrestrial surface onto a flat, two-dimensional plane. No map projection can preserve shape and size simultaneously, and the larger the mapped area, the more pronounced the total distortion. Interrupted maps were developed in order to represent specific map characteristics more accurately or to achieve the best possible compromise for certain sections of a map.
Calderwood is interested in the fact that compromises are necessary when transferring a three-dimensional surface onto a two-dimensional plane. Where does the space between a sculpture and its flat representation get lost’ Recently the artist has been producing printed images from a range of rubber and plywood sculptures using printers ink and household gloss paint on large sheets of paper. These works have always recorded one side of the sculpture resulting in something like a drawing of the object.
For Interrupted Projections, Matt Calderwood deals with the object’s entire surface. His central theme, how to follow the logic of objects with an economy of means, is always present in the background. For the exhibition, the raw plywood form is painted on all sides with gloss paint, placed onto a tyvek sheet and wrapped on all sides with the material. After a few moments the now gloss printed wrapping is removed and both it and the sculpture are left to dry. This process is repeated several times. The sculpture hereby becomes subject, tool and object for the image production. At the same time the images resulting from this process are like a set of maps for the sculpture. Like a cartographer’s interrupted projection where there are cuts in the image to allow the flattening of the globe’s surface with minimal distortion, the necessary folds in the fabric as it negotiates the three-dimensional surface create similar interruptions and compromises within the prints.
