City as organism
British artist Matthew Picton studied politics and economics in London and began his artistic career with a move to San Francisco in 1992. For one of his first exhibitions along the West Coast, he experimented brilliantly with materials and forms. His wealth of ideas about how to reinterpret topographic objects knew no bounds. To create his imposing landscapes he built virtuoso sculptures of cardboard and paper or dripped sugar to form chains of mountains.
The passion evident in his newest project lies in cartography, since for him city maps best represent the evolution of metropolises and the brains of civilization. Hot on the track of the urban pulse, he developed visual networks that follow their own laws and lend character to every city. The complex structure of vertical space holds for him a special visual energy that he associates with new technologies. The DuraLar and enamel plates are a special form of relief Picton has perfected in the course of his work. They allow for confusing views down upon and through his unusual city maps.
The especially edited historical maps of European capitals such as Berlin, Paris, and Amsterdam reveal grids, ring systems, and wide transportation arteries that connect to pulsating waterways. A new organism with its own metabolism is born. Picton exposes long-gone urban phenomena and show us structures that represent only tiny puzzle pieces in the complex city we know today. Before wide lanes and boulevards such as in the Parisian Haussmann Plan broke up entire urban neighborhoods, smaller quartiers had merged together in bundled conglomerations of social structures. These structures symbolize for Picton the essence of cities prior to their becoming metropolises.
His lively simulated structural objects thus retell urban history from a modern perspective. With his material experiments, Picton creates works of art full of depth.
Christina Wendenburg
| 1978-1981 | The London School of Economics and Political Science, London, UK |
| Lives and works in Ashland, Oregon, USA |
| 2006 | The Oregon Biennial, Portland Art Museum, Juror’s Grand Award Winner |
Solo Exhibitions (Selection)
| 2010 | In the Case of All Cities, London, UK |
| 2009 | Postwar Landscape, An Urban history, Howard House, Seattle, WA, USA |
| City Planning, Solway Jones Gallery, Los Angeles, CA | |
| 2007 | Pulliam Deffenbaugh, Portland, OR, USA |
| Davis and Cline, Ashland, OR, USA | |
| BAR Architects, San Francisco, CA, USA | |
| Toomey Tourell, San Francisco, CA, USA | |
| Byron C Cohen Gallery, Kansas City, MO, USA | |
| 2006 | Howard House, Seattle, WA, USA |
| 2005 | Toomey Tourell, San Francisco, CA , USA |
| Solway Jones, Los Angeles, CA, USA | |
| Mark Woolley Gallery, Portland, OR, USA | |
| 2004 | Studio Lo Do, Phoenix, AZ, USA |
| 2003 | Howard House, Seattle, WA, USA |
| 2002 | The Mark Woolley Gallery, Portland, Oregon, USA |
| Toomey Tourell Fine Art, San Francisco, Kalifornien, USA | |
| 2000 | Davis & Cline, Ashland, OR, USA |
| Center for Contemporary Art, Anchorage, AK | |
| The Mark Woolley Gallery, Portland, OR, USA | |
| 1998 | Triangle Gallery, San Francisco, CA, USA |
| 2010 | Absence and Presence, Toomey Tourell, San Francisco, CA , USA |
| Off the Map, Kirkland Arts Center, Kirkland, WA, USA | |
| 2009 | Parallels, Pharmaka, Los Angeles, CA, USA |
| Contemporary Landscape, Belgravia gallery, London, UK | |
| All over the map, Kohler Art Center, Sheboygan, WI, USA | |
| Art and Architecture, William Angel Gallery, London, UK | |
| Mapping and Contemporary Art, Christopher Henry Gallery, NYC, USA | |
| 2008 | Contested Ground, Museum of Art, Spokane, WA, USA |
| 2007 | Lines in the Earth, Sun Valley Arts Center, Idaho, USA |
| Mapping, Zoom plus minus, Arena, Santa Monica, CA, USA | |
| Model Behavior, Organism, Portland, OR, USA | |
| Landscape to The Limit, 2nd St Gallery, Charlottesville, VA, USA | |
| 2006 | Interspace, Solway Jones Gallery, Los Angeles, USA |
| 2005 | Fresh Trouble, Portland, OR, USA |
| Urban Jungle, Fort Mason, San Francisco, CA, USA | |
| 30 ways to make a painting, Carl Solway Gallery, Cincinnati, OH, USA | |
| 2004 | Damien B Contemporary Art, Solo show, Miami, FL, USA |
| Miniature Worlds, The Brewery Art center, Los Angeles, USA | |
| Big, Installation at TERRA, San Francisco, USA | |
| Installation at The Trans America Pyramid, SF, CA, USA | |
| 2003 | Scope Art Fair, Solo show with Toomey Tourell, Miami, FL, USA |
| The Core Show, Portland, OR, USA | |
| Indoor Outdoor, Limn Gallery, San Francisco, CA, USA | |
| The Best Coast, Portland, OR, USA | |
| 2002 | Gallery 2211/Solway Jones, Los Angeles, CA, USA |
| Northwest Documenta 1, Salem Art Barn, USA | |
| 2001 | Toomey Tourell Fine Art, San Francisco, CA, , USA |
| The Bellevue Art Museum, Bellevue, WA, USA | |
| Line Form color, Howard House, Seattle, WA, USA | |
| 2000 | The Texas National, Stephen F. Austin University, Nacogdoches, TX, USA |
| 2000, Patricia Sweetow Gallery, San Francisco, CA, USA | |
| 1999 | Paris Gibson Square Museum of Art, Great Falls, MT, Equinox, , USA |
| 1998 | 5 Abstract Painters. Lindenberg Gallery, New York, NY, USA |
| 1996 | Triangle Gallery, San Francisco, CA, USA |
| Sacred Cows, Artemisia Gallery, Chicago, IL, USA |
Books/Catalogs (Selection)
Layered mapping charts troubled histories, Adriana Grant, Seattle, 2009
Beyond Architecture, Fantastic Buildings and imaginary cities, Gestalten Press, Berlin, 2009
Cartography, Artists and Maps, Princeton Architectural Press, 2009
Essays/Articles (Selection)
Art Ltd, “Material Maps” feature article by Richard Speer, Nov 2007
Artweek, April 2005, by Prudence F. Roberts
Artweek, review of Core Sample by Lois Allen, Dec 2003
Artweek, April 2000, Vol31, issue 4, reviewed by Lois Allan
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