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Procession of the Self - Matthew O'Reilly
Procession of the Self
Matthew O’Reilly
Alberta Craft Discovery Gallery - Edmonton September 10, 2022 - October 22, 2022
Matthew O’Reilly’s works for Procession of the Self are a series of portraits developed during a year-long (2021-22) residency at Medalta international artists in residence in Medicine Hat. In his Discovery Gallery exhibition, O’Reilly used gigantic and diminutive figural works to take a critical look inward while satirizing the ideas behind public statuary and what is deemed acceptable in the public square.
Feeling conflicted about his place in the world, grappling with ideas about how he relates to the public square, and the process through which ideas manifest themselves in our sacred public space, O’Reilly tests the boundaries by pushing his works to extremes. He sees his work as anthropological and autobiographical, drawing inspiration from California Funk heroes such as Viola Frey and personalities in his family for his richly expressive towering characters.
In his works for Procession of the Self, O’Reilly experiments with the surface treatments of his menagerie, leaving some surfaces for paint after firing and utilizing Shigaraki to make pustules in the surfaces of his grotesques. The resulting works have exaggerated proportions and gestures; they are charming and obnoxious at the same time. Large in scale or number, they demand attention and space, looming over the viewer and stretching outward and upward from floor to ceiling. What does it mean to place large statuary inside a small gallery space, and how do we expect such gregarious oversized personalities to behave in such close quarters?
Humour is one of Matthew O’Reilly’s character traits, and he has infused his ceramic work with it as well. During his artist’s presentation, Matthew joked about his current lifestyle of continually travelling to the next opportunity, making work that tailor fits in the space allotted in each studio. Using this humour and exaggeration, O’Reilly brings our attention to what we celebrate or denigrate in the public sphere.
Statuary can provide the opportunity for viewers to consider how our individual values relate to our collective values, an important endeavour in our increasingly diverse pluralistic communities. -O’Reilly
When viewed in the context of current North American society as we question and redress history and historical statuary, the questions that Matthew’s works bring to our attention are significant.
Emerging ceramic artist Matthew O’Reilly completed his MFA at the Alberta University for the Arts in 2020, where he focused on the grotesque, satire, and monuments. In 2021 he received the First Place NCECA Graduate Award of Excellence from the Juried Student Exhibition for his Grad School achievements; last year, he received the Winifred Shantz Award for Ceramics. Currently, he is the artist in residence at the Clay Studio of Missoula, Montana, where he is ‘…exploring our relationship to the digitizing public square’. O’Reilly is interested in teaching and travelling, expanding his experience and network as an artist and educator.
To view the online exhibition and artist talk visit albertacraft.ab.ca/discovery-gallery
