Whanganui-trained artist Matthew Couper returns to Whanganui for an exhibition at Ann Parker Gallery.
Whanganui-trained artist Matthew Couper returns to Whanganui for an exhibition at Ann Parker Gallery.
Whanganui-trained artist Matthew Couper is returning from Las Vegas for his first solo exhibition in the city since 2007.
Couper, who was born in Hawke’s Bay, moved to Whanganui to study at the Quay School of the Arts, graduating in 1998 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts.
“Whanganui’s like an adopted home I guess,” he said.
During his time at the Quay School of the Arts, he met Lorene Taurerewa, the owner of Ann Parker Gallery on Drews Ave which will host his upcoming exhibition.
After studying, Couper moved to Wellington but returned to Whanganui for the Tylee Cottage residency in 2007.
“I just found that there’s something really ‘Aotearoa’ about Whanganui because it’s just that classic conflation of different cultures coming together.
“It’s an aesthetically beautiful city because it hasn’t been devastated by an earthquake or big money taking it over and demolishing the beautiful old buildings.”
Couper has been living in the United States for the past 15 years, starting in San Francisco and then moving to Las Vegas.
“It was at the height of the recession and things were pretty tough in the States so me and my wife decided instead of doing the art-grind, let’s do something fun,” he said.
“It’s a place we see as a very visual metaphor for American culture, the kitsch and the glam-tackiness of it.”
Couper’s natural curiosity about many different topics meant Las Vegas was a good fit, offering a variety of experiences.
“We’ve met some fascinating people here, all the way from the Paiute who are the native people of the area, all the way to the third-generation mafia families, to casino owners and lounge singers.
“It’s part of being an artist I think. If you’re inquisitive and want to get out there and see things then it all opens up.”
Couper said he drew inspiration from whichever topic he currently happened to be interested in, deep-diving the history and cultural effects.
“I have these kind of journalistic things where I’m very affected and influenced by my surroundings, but then I also have this interior life and interest of researching whatever is next that I’m interested in.”
Matthew Couper's Pale Grains on Plywood. Photo / Supplied
Early in his career, while studying, Couper was drawn to looking deeper into local art.
“The influences came from looking at New Zealand art and then asking questions like ‘where did this come from?’ or ‘what’s it linked to?‘. Often I found connections to overseas so I got interested in what else is out there.
“It’s like trying to find an etymology of a word - you just want to keep digging back and seeing how it’s affected by time.”
Until 2019, Couper was primarily focused on detailed artworks, often taking religious symbolism, modernising it and applying it to global issues.
A particular issue of focus was drought and water shortages in the US. He would often visit drying lakes and research statistics to get a wider picture of the topics he was inspired by.
In 2019 his focus switched to a broader perspective and a new art style.
“The bigger picture for me was survival. Survival can be different things. There’s mental and psychological survival, physical survival, so I moved away from this very detailed painting to a more gestural, almost abstract, painting that I was doing back in art school,” Couper said.
“Ultimately the paintings are filled with pieces of wood, and nails, and a pipe, and smoke, and a bow drill, which are all kind of elements of survival.”
Much of this work consists of island-type images, appearing abstracted by time and memory rather than resembling a real location, but based on real places including the Channel Islands in Los Angeles, Lake Mead in Nevada, and Cook Strait.
The works take after a dream-like state, almost real but not quite.
“This type of painting is very enjoyable, very flamboyant and exciting for me because it brought up all these memories,” Couper said.
Couper’s exhibition at the Ann Parker Gallery is titled “de Oeste, Oeste a West” reflecting the themes of multiculturalism and returning to the west.
“The work being shown at Ann Parker is kind of a slice of this bigger body of work,” he said.
“Even though only two of them really have reference to New Zealand specifically, all the others are quite international, so I like this idea of trying to bring it back.
“Select a bunch of stuff and bring it back to New Zealand to show it in a new context. There’s a lot of ideas about returning.”
