Manuel Mathieu Confronts Rage in 'Bury Your Masters' Exhibition
Biomorphic compositions that probe the state of an unfair reality.
Summary
- Mathieu is a multidisciplinary artist who works across painting, drawing, ceramics and installation
- His compositions are biomorphic, harnessing an abstract yet fluid appearance that yield subtle hints of figuration.
In September, London’s Pilar Corrîas gallery will stage the second solo exhibition of Manuel Mathieu. Hailing from Port-au-Prince, Haiti, Mathieu is a multidisciplinary artist who works across painting, drawing, ceramics and installation. His compositions are biomorphic, harnessing an abstract yet fluid appearance that yield subtle hints of figuration.
For the show, entitled Bury Your Masters, Mathieu holds in a quiet rage as each work probes the state of an unfair reality. More precisely, he “excavates inherited legacies (familial, political and spiritual) to question and interrogate their authority in a world where empathy seems to have vanished,” described the gallery in a statement. The exhibition is anchored by a poem written by the artist where his ethos is more apparent, calling out to higher spirits in a prayer-like chant that exclaims “Freedom abandoned us for rage/ That shiver comes with shame.”
The hopeless sentiment continues throughout the text and we do not know the period reflected in the poem as it could be in the past or present. Though, that may be the whole point as it may suggest endless conflict. “Mathieu harnesses the power of abstraction to create an installation that shifts from two to three dimensions, unfolding as an immersive ceremony of confronting truths. Through his material enquiries, Mathieu unmasks the fight for dignity and self-preservation in a world where a collective and equitable experience of reality seems impossible.”
Bury Your Masters will run from September 12 through November 1, 2025.
Pilar Corrias
2 Savile Row
London W1S 3PA
