Matthew Benington

Practice

Hand rendered acid-etched steel sheets line the interiors of an architectural structure entitled Hide: The Apocryphal Archive. This work by Matthew is intended as a monument to displaced people and features imagery of families separated from their photo albums, alongside images of his own family and other individuals who have suffered the hardship of diaspora and the loss of their home.

In the ‘Object to Image’ series Matthew collapses photographic representations with the realities that they depict. This takes the context of installations at architectural folly’s (19th century buildings which are intended to be fake ruins). The view through the archway of the monument is recorded through photography, before being printed 1:1 and installed outside on location.

The print impairs the view to the genuine landscape before being viscerally weathered or at times destroyed by the weather. Ongoing dialogue with artists explores ideas about the ruin and the repurposing of former industrial spaces. This manifested in Unstable Monuments, an Arts Council England funded curation project in Truro, Cornwall, 2016.

Matthew’s current work is focused upon masculine identity, examining how this is constructed and informed by factors such as the media, ancestry, and social pressure.

Solo shows

• 2018: Building Days, Art Lacuna London
• 2016: BURN, the eyes that saw the light melted out of sheer ecstasy, Cologne, Germany Gold + Beton Gallery
• 2015: New Expressions 3 artist in residence at Penryn Museum, Cornwall
• 2014: Open Castle 02, solo show, Mow Cop Castle, Staffordshire, National Trust
• 2014: Hide, Kedleston Walk ex council flat rooftop and flat, Bethnal green
• 2012: Open Castle, Sham Castle, Bath
• 2012: The Little Gallery, Calgary, Alberta, Canada

Group shows and curation

• 2023: Almost Nothing but Blue Ground, East Gallery, Norwich
• 2020: Almost Nothing but Blue Ground, 6-day performative walk Kent, Supported by Arts Council England
• 2017: We Came Here to Conquer, Norwich Castle Museum
• 2016: Unstable Monuments, Old Bakery, Turners Wharf, Truro. Arts council England supported curation project.
• 2015: Unstable Monuments, Truro
• 2015: 30 for 30, National Theatre, London
• 2014: Fete Worse than Death, Red Gallery Rivington Street
• 2014: Artopia, This Wild West, St Katherines Docks, London. Hanmi Gallery, Breathing space, Maple Street, London
• 2013: Suspended Sentence, Turners Warehouse, Penzance
• 2012: Silence and I‘23rd Interim Exhibition, Hanmi Gallery, Maple Street London
• 2012: Retrospective Archaeology of a Future Disaster which Crack(ed)s the present. Curator. Stanley Picker Gallery Project space, Kingston.
• 2012: Headhunted,‘Bucca Gallery, Newlyn
• 2012: London Print Fair, Royal Academy. Being Present, Matt Benington, Maddox Arts, London
• 2012: Christies ‘Multiplied’ Fair, South Kensington
• 2012: Royal College of Art Degree Show, Battersea, Howie Street
• 2011: The Second Exhibition, C.G Project Space, Bermondsey, London
• 2011: The Dark Rooms, CAST institute, Passmore Edwards building, Helston
• 2011: RCA Secret, Royal College of Art, London
• 2011: Crown Point Press Exhibition, Calgary, Alberta, Canada
• 2011: Saatchi Art Paris, Grand Palais, Paris
• 2010: Midas Award, Newlyn Gallery, Penzance
• 2010: Print! The Exchange Gallery, Jesse Leroy Smith, Penzance
• 2010: Saatchi New Sensations, House of the Nobleman. Cornwall Terrace, London
• 2010: BA Fine Art Degree Show, University College Falmouth
• 2009: Royal West of England Academy, Summer show
• 2009: Encore, The Royal West of England Academy, Bristol.

Awards and residencies

• 2014-2015: New Expressions 3 Artist in Residence, Penryn Museum
• 2014: Andrew Brownsword exhibition Prize, Victoria Art Gallery Bath
• 2012-2013: Stanley Picker Fellowship
• 2012: Casual-Ties publication
• 2012: MA in Fine Art Printmaking, Royal College of Art
• 2010: Midas Award
• 2010: Scalpel magazine. Text, Rebecca Wilson, Saatchi Gallery Associate director. Selected for Saatchi New Sensations
• 2010: BA (Hons) Fine Art, University College Falmouth, First Class
• 2008: Harry Walker RWA Young Artist Prize, Victoria Art Gallery, Bath
• 2007: Oliver McMillan Memorial Prize.

View more of Matthew’s work on the Norwich University Repository

View Matthew’s practice-based research portfolio