Matthew Houston (1961) - Cere

Signed on the back of the mount.
The accompanying provenance paper is signed and carries the studio stamp.
Print size 27.5 x 21.5cm with mount 36.5 x 27.5cm
Fine condition
C-type print on Fujicolor Crystal Archive Paper
Edition of 11 with 2 A.Ps made from large format (10x8") Polaroid - this is the 2nd Artists Proof
From a series of editions made from Polaroid originals.
On aluminium mount faced with a buff toned 100% rag paper
In clear mylar museum quality protective sleeve and black buckram archival box.

Shipped flat with rigid protection by registered mail.

Matthew Houston (London 1961) best known for the Catalogue of Chaos series - an in depth exploration of the materials and processes of photography.

This is a photograph from a series of Polaroids and c-type editions begun in the late 1990s.

Matthew Houston's studied printmaking at the Central School of Art, London, and later earned a First Class degree in photography from the London College of Printing. He began photographing models, actors, and dancers on a small stage he built while running a cabaret on a sailing ship. This stage was the setting for many of his large-format photographs and Polaroids in the late 1990s. Houston notes that the stage itself suggested the inclusion of a person and acted as a pedestal for his subjects. His photographs are known for their intimate often nostalgic qualities and are the result of an "open experiment" with his subjects. He focuses on finding common ground with the model and capturing what happens naturally. His photographs sometimes include subtle references to mythological figures and paintings. This is not meant to be a fixed theme, but a "gentle reference" that emerged from the stage-like setting of his early portraits.*
*From exhibition catalogue, London 2014

"The little stage I built was part of the studio and I began to make photographs of performers, friends, actors and models. Using Polaroid film gave the material a chance to be part of the picture as well. Polaroid is known for all kinds of quirks and accidents that are a reminder of process. As with other photographs I've made I feel it important that material and process are still included, still evident.”**
**From interview - Saatch Art

An excerpt from an exhibition review I discovered - BIP off, Liege - by Philippe Herbert
"Parcours atypique : ancien propriétaire d’un cabaret, il photographie depuis l’âge de 7 ans mais il a commencé cette série à 38 ans. Sur une scène improvisée, il photographie au Polaroïd grand format des femmes dénudées avec beaucoup de tendresse. Il renouvelle le genre du nu."