MATTHEW KNOWLES. BA.
I am a working artist currently making pieces and commissions on a relativity small scale.
I make all my pieces from elements that are discarded, destined for landfill, broken, decayed by nature or generally considered to be of no aesthetic or physical use.
I collect the items whilst going about my daily and very unimportant business.
The found items are then absorbed into my studio silently waiting to be reborn.
They, the finds themselves are the inspiration for what they will become.
The initial vision is always open to change as the work evolves, sometimes never reaching fruition but lingering around my space half made or obtaining completion a considerable time later as an entirely different entity.
Holy Cow.
This piece started with a trip to the local charity shop to look for a piece of local flotsam or gypsum to add to the collection. Inside I picked up an old Bible, as I opened it I was met with a fragrance of year old dust and Brylcream .
The fore pages were inscribed with the recipients name and the date it was awarded. Once I had read this I felt invested and it was mine to pay for.
In the studio, the Bible sat for maybe two months on the bench surrounded by an array of other random items. Until once again it was in my thoughts, I picked it up again in order to have my senses transported back in time once again, then I saw it, Holy Cow.
My intentions from its very conception were not to offend the spiritual essence of the Bible or disgrace the memory of its owner but rather to be more respectful and gracious towards it, whilst still retaining its original purpose as a book.
A stand or a cradle was the solution in keeping with the age of the book I used a piece of hard wood from a 1950s mahogany wardrobe destined for my local Halloween bonfire.
The cradle needed to be simple, elegant and have enough and aesthetic shape to represent the Cows legs in a way as-to lift the Bible and give it the reverence it deserves.
After a few parity sketches I came up with an idea so the mahogany was then cut, sculpted, planed and tailored by hand to fit together using simple carpentry joints reinforced with Starbucks coffee sticks and super glue.
The head and tail are sculpted from driftwood from where the shores of Strangford Lough meet Killyleagh.
Lastly, the head and tail needed to be joined in such a way as to be able to sit in position within the book without damaging the Pages. The answer came from what was there at hand at the time of making, the criteria being long thin and strong and there was right in front of me my junior hacksaw I took out the blade and used it as the final piece of the jigsaw to join your head and tail together.
It sits neatly between the pages and acts to the bookmark as well as positioning the head and tail in its relative position to convince our brains that we are looking at a cow.
Once all elements were completed and assembled , the overflowed glue was cleaned with a chisel, sanded, scraped and sealed and then book outer surfaces polished with cherry blossom boot polish. Then he sat on our mantle piece at home for the household to observe, to quietly take in his presence and to assess any final adjustments.
Holy cow
Forgive me for I have skimmed
Done
In conclusion I accept Holy Cow makes me and others laugh and smile, the piece has the ability to raise my spirits, to change my emotions but it isn't a joke nor just a bit of fun, it has taken my entire life to get to the moment of finish.
I am proud of it, I have truly found what makes me content to exist and hopefully this is expressed in my art.