The wild lands
An exhibition of work by Matt Mossop
A companion for Mon 37 x 29cm Mixed media 1999
The wild lands
Exposure. Baking hot sun, sensuous naked summer bodies, pristine freezing surf pounds the beach and thrashes around round granite, salt spraying sand beneath the cliff. Ambling regretfully up the path the sweet scent of gorse is heavy as the light fades. A night walk lost in the thicket, where the cow, sheep and badger have all turned around, we flailed the briar beneath starry turquoise skies, summer is not forgotten.
Crashing waves in swollen seas cannon and boom in the pitch, spitting lightning an broil the deep. Raging winds, pelt stinging rain to send the gortex home to miss the show. A lone figure battles clingfilmed in streaming plastic. His billowing mac flaps furious with whiplash venom and scorns his passage across the wild lands.
Summer in the uplands 122x79cm Mixed media on re-claimed plywood 2007
Introduction
The wild lands reflects the move from West Penwith to Goodagrane and whilst the intense colours of the gorse, bracken, sea and sky I hope breathe a little life into the work, it is work that reflects the move away from the cliffs to the uplands of Mabe. A move not entirely without regret, but one with has brought excitement of an amazing world of unexplored valleys, shrouded quarries and babbling streams caressing moss-bearded boulders as well as the furze clad highlands which define the landscape. Granite continues to form the structure of nearly every piece whether in scantled farmhouses, stray finds or weathered outcrops.
Didi seascape (detail) 16x9cm Mixed Media 2001
Bosigran cliff 29x21cm Mixed media 2007
Scrumpy 11x16cm Mixed Media 1999
Shells 29x20cm Mixed media 1994
Creaggan Mor 40x27cm Mixed media 1998
Evensong 28x28cm Oil Pastel 1998
The Wild Lands
The Vitreous Gallery, Truro
1 December 2007 - 5 January 2008
Reviewed by: George Care
The broad dark pastel lines in Matt Mossop’s paintings recall the expressionist vigour of Rouault. Intense colours, supplemented by ink, watercolour and acrylic, have been used to render the landscapes of Carrick and West Penwith. Matt is much taken by the degringole beauty of these wild areas. Gorse, granite, moorland and the elements form the subject matter for his work. You can sense the wind and rain. He says of his recent move to Mabe that it has brought him “brought excitement of an amazing world of unexplored valleys, shrouded quarries and babbling streams caressing moss-bearded boulders as well as the furze clad highlands which define the landscape.” He clearly enjoys looking at ramshackle farm buildings or cottages with cement washed roofs covered in moss and lichen. Mossop hails from Scotland-from Cumberland- where he has painted the dark mass of Creaggan Moor and Highland Boundaries. His feeling for the landscape and environment is informed by his training as an archaeologist. He has worked in France and Ireland and is clearly attracted by the poetry of the Celtic edge. He is attracted too by the beach and the objects to be found upon it; shells and starfish, pebbles and conches. The energy in these pictures is increased by strong composition and a natural spontaneity in the pastelwork that draws the attention. Two pictures which are particularly pleasing are “Scrumpy” –not actually displayed- but on the website at http://www.vitreous.biz/gallery/artist/mattmossop/Scrumpy.php. This is a robust and pleasing painting that would look superb in any country kitchen.Then there is the stain-glass spirituality of “Evensong” which is reminiscent of Rouault once again.
