Mat Collishaw. The Machine Zone

About

“The dark side of my work primarily concerns the internal mechanisms of visual imagery and how these mechanisms address the mind.”
– Mat Collishaw

Mat Collishaw is one of the most significant and compelling artists in contemporary British art. With an early foundation at Goldsmiths College, Collishaw formed part of the legendary movement of Young British Artists (YBA’s). He was one of 16 young artists who participated in the seminal Freeze exhibition organized by Damien Hirst in 1988 as well as the famous Sensation show of 1997.

Throughout his 30-year career, Collishaw has contemplated the nature of the human subconscious and explored ways to influence it through various media. Through optical illusions, paintings, projections and moving sculptures, the artist creates works and scenarios that directly and unconsciously engage their viewers. The works encourage us to think about fundamental questions of psychology, history, sociology and science. Behind the richness and visual appeal of each work there is a deep exploration of how we perceive and are influenced by the world today through images, and modern technology. Questions regarding behavioral manipulation, programming, temporal reality all linger in the viewing experience.

The exhibition in Dubai will feature the artist’s works of different years and techniques: zoetrope The Centrifugal Soul (2016), kinetic sculptures The Machine Zone (2019) and The Nerve Rack (2019), picturesque series Expiration Painting (2016) and a new painting cycle The Operant Conditioning Chamber (2022).

Mat Collishaw’s works have been exhibited in numerous museums and public collections globally, including: Tate, London, UK; Somerset House, London, UK; Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, Birmingham, UK; Galleria Borghese, Rome, Italy; Pino Pascali Museum Foundation, Bari, Italy; Bass Museum of Art, Florida, USA; Freud Museum, London, UK; Galeria d’Arte Moderna, Bologna, Italy; Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville, Paris, France; The Brooklyn Museum, New York, USA; Museo di Roma, Rome, Italy; MNAC, Barcelona, Spain; Arter Foundation, Istanbul, Turkey; British Council Collection, London, UK; Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris, France; Galleria Civica d’Arte Moderna, Torino, Italy; Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego, USA; Museum of Old and New Art, New South Wales, Australia; Olbricht Collection, Berlin, Germany; The State Hermitage Museum, St. Petersburg, Russia.