Matthew Houston (1961) - Holly

Signed on the back of mount.
The accompanying provenance paper is also signed and carries the studio stamp.
Print size 13 x 18cm with mount 24 x 30cm
Fine condition
Silver gelatin print sulphide toned
Made from large format (3x4") Polaroid negative
The paper has a fine stipple surface
On 100% rag paper on aluminium with Kodak dry mounting tissue. The mount has pencil marks probably for positioning a passepartout.
In removable clear mylar museum quality protective sleeve.


From a series of editions made from Polaroid prints and negatives. Note - rather than produce an edition Matthew Houston often makes silver prints individually by hand. Each of these are unique and so given a 'version' number - this says "version 3"

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 silver prints prints begun in the late 1990s.

Matthew Houston 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."