About the exhibition
George Matoulas' 2012 exhibition is comprised of 30 works; it includes paintings, collographs, sculpture and woven wool.
He has created six large collographs to convey our understanding of the separation of continents over a 180 million year period, and to look curiously at our accepted version of mapping.
These sit beside a suite of small paintings and prints that are studies of individual objects.
Matoulas simplifies the depiction of objects, creating images that hover between the cultural neutrality and international symbolism of pictograms, (such as the images of the bay marker and the lighthouse), and the very local cultural expression of symbols such as hieroglyphs (the hat, the iron and the orientation of Earth)
His images are narrative free, yet abound in associations; the warmth of colour and vigorous line stimulating our memories.
His works are full of the immediacy of the hand of the artist, but nonetheless are carefully measured in the balance of texture and colour.
They are carefully balanced too between a playful appreciation of the inventive drive of mankind and a most serious understanding of its destructive aggression.
Published in IMPRINT Winter 2011
Pieces of the Puzzle: the Art of George Matoulas
George Matoulas is a printmaker, sculptor, book artist, publisher and binder. He grew up as the child of Greek migrants in Melbourne in the 1960s, and considers his art to be about ‘identity, place and perception’. Viewing the Australian continent through European eyes – a land 'on the bottom of the world' – he strives to produce work imbued with a ‘simple directness, devoid of gimmick or illusion’.
George studied painting and printmaking at RMIT in 1985-87, and was later involved with York Street Gallery and Print Workshop 1988-1991. He curated a number of exhibitions in the 1990s, including ‘The Cask – An Aussie Icon’, held at NGV Access Gallery, and ‘Classic to Vinyl’ for the Maverick Arts Festival. His works on paper – etchings, lithographs, collagraphs – have been exhibited in solo exhibitions at Gallery Smith, Dickerson Gallery, and others, as well as being included in numerous group exhibitions.
During the past decade, George has increasingly focused his art practice on making books and bronze sculptures. His earliest book Bored in Fitzroy was made in 1989, in an edition of 4 copies, and comprised 10 intaglio prints and 4 mono prints, beautifully bound in full leather by Nick Doslov. It was followed in 1993 by House, a collaborative book with artist Rob Dott, containing etchings and woodcuts, and produced in an edition of 5 copies, bound by Matoulas.
Lexicon House Press was founded in 2002, galvanized by a visit Matoulas made to an exhibition on Swiss publisher Albert Skira in 1994. Skira’s role in bringing together artists and writers to publish limited edition illustrated books proved inspirational. To date, Lexicon House has issued four books featuring poetry by Kevin Hart, Dmitris Tsoulamis, and Tom Petsinis, and original artwork by Kristam Headlam, David Frazer, Michael Winters and Jim Pavlidis.
Matoulas separately founded Messofa Press in the late 1990s. Unlike Lexicon Press, which is intended to publish the work of other artists and writers, Messofa Press was specifically set-up to showcase his own output, as well as his collaborative productions with other artists and writers. Books produced to date under this imprint include Journey (1995) and His Wayward Hand (2005), both made collaboratively with Peter Lyssiotis, and Notebooks of Mahinder Go (2001), a collaborative book made with writer Christopher Cyrill.
Matoulas has also been involved with several artist-run studios whose work has been recorded in a series of deluxe artist book productions: York Street Printmakers (1990), 108 Moor Street (1992), and 7 Stories (2005).
His recent forays into sculpture reflect a long held interest in drawing. His chosen subjects - signs and cultural markers such as flags and beacons - are rendered by single unbroken lines of bronze. With their free-floating quality, they resemble drawings in space, reminiscent of the work of Eduardo Chillida, or the elongated figures of Alberto Giacometti.
Matoulas learnt the craft of bookbinding via an apprenticeship with binder Nick Doslov in the late 1980s and early 1990s. He subsequently studied binding at Centro del Bel Libro, Ascona, Switzerland, in 1994; and he has been employed in the bindery department and preservation unit at State Library of Victoria since 1990. Aside from binding the books issued by Lexicon House and Messofa Press, Matoulas has worked collaboratively with many artists, creating bindings for books by Deborah Klein, Martin King, Angela Cavalieri, Gali Weiss, Georgina Duckett, Tomasso Durante, and others.
George Matoulas's books are held in institutions around the country, including State Library of Victoria, Monash University Library, University of Melbourne, National Library of Australia, State Library of Queensland, State Library of New South Wales.
When an artist produces work in such a diverse array of mediums - painting, works on paper, sculptures, books, bindings - it can sometimes have the unfortunate effect of obscuring the totality of the oeuvre. Apprised of only part of the puzzle, we, the viewer, may limit our judgement accordingly.
The writer Jorge Luis Borges once commented that he considered himself, first and foremost, as a reader, then as a poet, and then as a prose writer. In the same way, George Matoulas has expressed a preference to be considered, firstly, as an artist, then as a maker of books, and then as a binder. It seems to me, however, that the term 'artist' is broad enough to encompass all of these activities, and - with all the pieces of the puzzle in place - we should judge the heterogeneous patterns of George Matoulas's art accordingly.
Des Cowley
24 April 2011
George Matoulas BRIEF BIOGRAPHY
Studied: Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology. Degree in Fine Arts Painting/Printmaking 1985/87.
Solo Exhibitions
The Art Vault, Mildura 2011
Gallery Smith, “Pharos” Melbourne 2009
Lancaster Gallery, HIS WAYWARD HAND, Melbourne 2006
Dickerson Gallery, Melbourne 2003
Dickerson Gallery, Sydney, 2001
Dickerson Gallery, Melbourne, 2001
Mass Gallery “Casa del Silenzio” 2000
38a Ovens St. “JOURNEY Ο ΓΥΡΙΣΜΟΣ” 2000
Gallery Irascible “Tall Poppy” 1995
Arcimboldo Gallery La Spezia Italy 1994
Teatro Variete Ascona Switzerland 1994
York Street Gallery 1989
Collaborative Exhibitions
Stonington Stables Museum of Art Deakin University, “Under the Southern Cross’’ 2007
West Space “Porta” (with Maryanne Nairn) 1998
Selected Group Exhibitions
Geelong Gallery “Books crossing” from the Deakin University Artist’s Book Collection 2009
PROJECT SPACE/SPARE ROOM RMIT University “Visual Word” 2008
Artist Books exhibitions 2006 – 2007 Australian Galleries, Port Jackson Press and Melbourne University
Counihan Gallery “PRACTICE IN PROGRESS” 2004
Dickerson Gallery, Sydney “SUB 500” 2002
Stonington Stables Museum of Art Deakin University, “making pages” 2002
MASS Gallery, “SCRIPT” 2001
RMIT Gallery, Storey Hall “Little Treasures” 2001
The George Adams Gallery, Victorian Arts Centre, Australian Paper Awards 2001
Yarra Sculpture Space, Fundere Sculpture Prize 2000
Dickerson Gallery,Melbourne, Gallery Artists 2000
Fremantle Arts Centre, Fremantle Print Prize 2000
Circolo Culturale “Il Gabbiano” “ATTACCAR BOTTONE” La Spezia Italy 1999
VicHealth Access Gallery, National Gallery of Victoria “The Cask-an Aussie icon” 1998,
Circolo Culturale “Il Gabbiano” “RELIQUIARIO” La Spezia Italy 1998, Victoria Vista Hotel Maverick Production “The Ladder” 1998, Studio Gennai “Arte in scatola” Pisa Italy 1998
Leviathan Building “Made in Cuba” 1997 (Melbourne Fringe Festival),
Museo Nouva Era “prod8 * garantito involucri d’arte” Bari Italy 1997
Australian Print Workshop “Artists Books” 1996, 101 Collins Street “Neophytes V” 1996 (Antipodes festival), Circolo Culturale “Il Gabbiano” “Libretto Digitale” La Spezia Italy 1995,
1993 SNZ Print Exhibition Tokyo Japan 1993, 108 Moor Street “House” 1993
Australian Print Workshop “108 Moor Street” 1992
James Street Gallery “Urban Images” 1992
VicHealth Access Gallery, National Gallery of Victoria “Tradition and Cosmopolitanism” 1991
York Street Gallery “York Street Printmakers” 1991
Mornington Peninsula Arts Centre Print Exhibition 1990
Mornington Peninsula Arts Centre Print Exhibition 1988
York Street Gallery, “Established and Emerging Printmakers” 1988
Prizes: Toorak College Mount Eliza Best Print 1990
Collections: Art Bank, Australian Paper Company, Deakin University, Melbourne University, Monash University, Mornington Peninsula Arts Centre, State Library of New South Wales,
State Library of Queensland James Hardie Collection, State Library of Victoria
Publications: Imprint 2011, The Cask-an Aussie icon, The Ladder (Maverick Publication),
Print Council of Australia Print Directory, The 1991 Australian Arts Diary,
The Age Profile 13/6/01, Australian Paper Awards, Imprint December 2001
Commissions:
Fringe festival poster 1996,
Dust jacket for Patrick White Bibliography, Quiddlers Press 2003
