Matthew Johnston

Country where you live:

England

City where you live:

Manchester

Website:

http://Www.flayapparel.com

Instagram:

http://Www.instagram.com/djflayisarealdj

Statement :

Exploring human form and our relationship with the body and narrative. When observing the body of another we instinctively analyse for information, any visual details that provide us with some more understanding of their identity and therefore their intentions in their gaze upon me, the viewer.
I completed 2 paintings, each provides different layers of subtle information about the character contained within.

Window

This painting is titled "Window" (2019). 40 x 40 inch. Painted over the top of a charity shops New York City print on canvas I made this painting in one tranquil morning. When reaching this point in the composition I desperately tried to conjure up and invent a more informative background, the location, some context for the form and its identity. The vagueness is what impacted me most about this piece. Compared to Nightswimming, even when provided with additional information about the forms identity, the eyes, the skin, there is still something magical about this vulnerable form and their gaze into your soul.

Work Credit:

Matthew Johnston (FLAY)

Night Swimming

This green painting is titled "Night Swimming" (2020). 60 x 60 inch. One of my recent commissioned works. The composition invites imagination with numerous visual elements. I feel as though the identity of the nude form remains as ambiguous as its intentions. Bathing lustfully in the darkness, the seductress draws the viewer closer with her posture, the look over the shoulder emphasises the absence of eyes and causes the viewer to subconsciously paint the peripheral in their mind as they place an identity from their own world onto the blank form.

Work Credit:

Matthew Johnston (FLAY)