Mat Collishaw is a prominent figure in British contemporary art and a leading member of the Young British Artists movement. He gained recognition in 1988 at the Freeze exhibition in London, which he co-organized with his friend and fellow Goldsmith’s College classmate, Damien Hirst. The exhibition marked a turning point for Western European contemporary art, shifting the focus from the “‘80s painting revival” to addressing societal issues and everyday life’s harsh realities, leading to the rise of the Young British Artists movement.

Collishaw’s art challenges and deconstructs conventional perceptions of familiar images, exploring the influence of hidden mechanisms and visual techniques on the viewer’s subconscious. His works strike a balance between poetic romanticism and shocking, dark illusionism, often delving into forbidden or suppressed aspects, drawn from science and his personal experiences.

He frequently draws inspiration from old masters’ works, incorporating references to historical themes and classical techniques of portraying nature from specific cultural eras. Through digital processing of borrowed images, he offers new interpretations of the relationship between representation and reality.

The works from his “Black Mirrors” series (‘St. Sebastian’, ‘Andromeda’, 2017), feature paintings by Niccolò Renieri and Vlaho Bukovac appearing as ghosts in mirrors framed by black Murano glass. These animated figures come to life, reproducing subjects from famous works, blurring the boundaries between the real world and the realm of classical painting.

Collishaw’s fascination with the Victorian era is deliberate, as this period in 19th-century Britain was known for its scientific progress and empirical sobriety. By referencing this era in his art, he imitates its ornamental, romantic style while shedding light on society’s darker aspects and the inherent base instincts in humanity, transcending time, aesthetic, or scientific advancements. He also explores early photographic techniques used to create optical illusions during the Victorian era, recreating effects that underlie pre-cinematic animation in his work through spectral projections, innovative photography methods, and zoetropes.

“All Things Fall” (2014) is a monumental kinetic work created for an exhibition at the Borghese Gallery in Rome. Referencing the painting by Ippolito Scarsella, it brings the biblical story of The Massacre of the Innocents in Bethlehem to life. The zoetrope consists of 300 separate figures programmed to rotate at 60 revolutions per minute, while LED lamps synchronized to flash 18 times per second, creating an illusion of movement – the moving pictures. An optical illusion that fuses the ethereal beauty with terrifying brutality was described by critic Waldemar Januszczak as “nothing less than a contemporary masterpiece”.

The “Albion” (2017) presents a grand-scale projection of the famous oak tree in Sherwood Forest, Nottingham, which legend claims was the shelter of Robin Hood. The artwork dramatically portrays the thousand-year-old tree’s plight, caught in a liminal state between legendary life and physical decay. Centuries ago, the tree began to wither, but during the Victorian era, complex steel structures were employed to artificially support it in an upright position. Using a laser scan and the “Pepper’s Ghost” technique, the projection depicts the oak as a living being, forever ensnared by human intervention, recreating the illusion of life.

“Gasconades” (2017) is a series of hyper-realistic paintings that continue the theme of The Albion. The images depict garden birds, drawing inspiration from popular 17th-century paintings of birds and animals by Carel Fabritius, such as “The Goldfinch” from 1654, and other works by Dutch masters.

“My desire is to show the viewer how the time in which we live affects our perception of the world around us. These days, it’s difficult to slow down and absorb imagery of the past. Over time, our perception of paintings changes, not only because they become iconic, but because the media around us has totally changed. We don’t generally stand around looking at a picture that’s not moving, because it’s not that interesting compared to what else is on offer. I’m trying to reintroduce the concept of time to these works, to prompt the viewer to look at each of them a little longer and thus immerse themselves in the history of each picture.” – Mat Collishaw

Mat Collishaw’s works have been exhibited in numerous museums and public collections globally, including: Tate (London, UK); Somerset House (London, UK); Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery (Birmingham, UK); Galleria Borghese Rome (Italy); Pino Pascali Museum Foundation (Bari, Italy); Bass Museum of Art (Miami, FL, USA); Freud Museum (London, UK); Galeria d’Arte Moderna (Bologna, Italy); Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville (Paris, France); The Brooklyn Museum (New York, NY, USA); Museo di Roma (Rome, Italy); Museu Nacional d’Art de Cataluny (MNAC) (Barcelona, Spain); Arter Foundation (Istanbul, Turkey); British Council Collection (London, UK); Centre Georges Pompidou (Paris, France); Galleria Civica d’Arte Moderna (Torino, Italy); Museum of Contemporary Art (San Diego, CA, USA); Olbricht Collection (Berlin, Germany).