Michel Rein

Mathew Hale

13 Oct - 17 Nov 2007

MATHEW HALE
"Tasuk! Tsukku-san!"

Galerie Michel Rein is proud to announce Mathew Hale’s first solo show in Paris. He will present a selection of drawings/ collages from his series entitled “The MIRIAM Books”. According to Jordan Kantor: “Hale’s appropriation and repositioning of the book page triggers a dizzying, recursive loop between drawing and writing - and between reading and viewing.” (in Pissing Ink: 80 Pages from the MIRIAM Books by Mathew Hale, ed. DAAD Berlin, 2004)

Born in 1962 in Swindon (England), Mathew Hale has shown his works at the DAAD galerie (Berlin) and at the Whitechapel Gallery (London).

The Pages from ‘The MIRIAM Books’
- These drawings and/or collages are associative improvisations. I follow my hand as much as I guide my hand. The images emerge during their making. When I begin I have no idea of what, if anything, will appear. ‘The discovery of their subject is their subject.’ (Jeffrey Eugenides).
- The process of making a series of these works begins when I cut all the pages from a chosen “host” book. I then shuffle the loose sheets and place them in a pile. Each time I want to begin a new drawing I split the pile and draw on the page that comes out on top.
- There is only one rule; that there can be no failures. I must find my way through to some kind of satisfactory result in each case. Some of the best drawings and/or collages have endured long periods of failure, others appeared swiftly and fluently. Some pages remain unresolved for a long time, others are complete in a few minutes.
- I always begin a new page by drawing on it in ink. Collage usually enters into a work at a point when drawing has begun fail.
- A quotation: ‘I really do think with my pen, for the head often knows nothing of what my hand is writing.’ (Ludwig Wittgenstein).
Mathew Hale, Oct. 2007
 

Tags: Mathew Hale, Jordan Kantor