Imagine a mountain top. Way up high. With old craggy rocks springing forth with glorious evergreens reaching for the sun. The above artwork is part of a collection by Richmond artist, Matt Flowers. But all is not as it appears. It is not a photo of place. It’s a place created by Matt that and your interaction with it makes you feel huge while at the same shrinking you in an Alice in Wonderland kind of way.
Using driftwood, rocks, moss, enamel, paint and detailed hand work that is surely going to give him early-onset crows-feet, Matt is a sculptor of landscapes that are driven by his photographic eye. In taking pictures of Matt’s work for this post, I quickly realized I was not capturing one of the most essential and remarkable elements of his sculptures. Scale. So I included a frame of reference to help you comprehend the size through a series of images.
Using the found elements and adding in tools like magnifying glasses and backlit screens, Matt engages the viewer to discover life-like imaginary worlds. Some of his pieces use antique lenses tucked into handcrafted boxes mounted on vintage tripods to create small dioramas that make the viewer feel as if they’ve dropped into an H.G. Wells-like world where nothing is as it appears. His tiny details create landscapes that upon closer inspection feel larger, giving the viewer a magical glimpse into another place both of this world and of Matt’s imagination.
This gallery of images of his sculptures better explains the work, and for more information visit Matt Flowers’ website.