Talk Artist Talk Matthew Krishanu

Join us for the closing event of Corvus where artist Matthew Krishanu will discuss the series of paintings exhibited in the Stuart Hall Library in the context of his wider practice.

Matthew Krishanu has been documenting London crows for over seven years and painting their intimate portraits in oil on canvas board. He has captured the minutiae of their lives – perching, feeding, pacing or standing – that only a sustained period of observation could reveal.

In the space of the Stuart Hall Library, systems of classification, taxonomy and assemblage come into focus. Krishanu’s paintings of crows emerge between shelves and bask alongside books, populating the collection with their delicate, comical and eerie presence. Painted in rich tones of black, blue and brown, often against a pale background, this cast of distinctive magical birds has flocked to the library seeking refuge from the outside for a while. When we look up and around, the sometimes-solitary practice of reading is suspended by their curious companionship.

Biography

Matthew Krishanu (b. 1980) was born in Bradford and is based in London. He completed an MA in Fine Art at Central Saint Martins in 2009.

Exhibitions include: House of Crows, Matt’s Gallery, London; The Sun Never Sets, MAC, Birmingham; A Murder of Crows, Ikon Gallery, Birmingham (2019); The John Moores Painting Prize 2018, Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool; In the City, East Gallery, Norwich (2018); Contemporary Masters from Britain, Yantai Art Museum, Jiangsu Art Museum, Tianjin Academy of Fine Arts, China (2017-2018); Aviary, Transition Gallery, London (2016); Contemporary Drawings from Britain, Xi’an Academy of Fine Arts, China (2015); Another Country, The Nunnery, London (2014). He has works in collections including the Arts Council Collection, Priseman-Seabrook Collection, and Jiangsu Art Museum, China.

www.matthewkrishanu.com

Image: Matthew Krishanu, Corvus, 2019. Installation view. Photograph by George Torode.