Herald St is pleased to present the second solo show at the gallery by Matthew Darbyshire following his presentation here of Elis a large scale architectural installation in 2010.

Featuring new bodies of work that include sculpture and for the first time painting his presentation Bureau focuses specifically on new methods of production that he has developed over the past six months. Highlighting familiar and classical subjects such as the nude or the Greek statue Darbyshire’s new objects employ both polystyrene and plaster. Fabrication methods flit between the designed, machined, hand made and cast. All of the objects in the show start life as an acquired digital design which are then manipulated both on screen and often reworked in the round. Seated Nude for example is machine cut from polystyrene, her vectored androgynous hairstyle nodding towards digital origins. Hercules by contrast is roughly hewn from layer upon layer of polystyrene assembled by the artists’ hand and whilst this item too has its origin in a digital design its final form both references and rejects the more prevalent and fashionable technique of 3D printing. For each layer of positive there must be a negative and Darbyshire used these negative spaces as readymade moulds from which to cast new objects. Everyday items such as water coolers or radiators have been classically cast in plaster, their original polystyrene moulds having been destroyed in the process. Similarly made from plaster the iconic Asimo robot sits atop a Windsor chair, waving to the viewer, he reminds us of early ideal of an automated future.

Elsewhere in the room a series of polystyrene cats engage with Windsor chairs masquerading as pedestals. The chairs offering up an existing timeline of manufacture, each Windsor chair being a different style and dating from the 18th Century to the the recently updated injection-moulded version produced by Kartell.

Fabrication techniques and timelines also come to the fore within a new series of paintings. Using ink from inkjet printers Darbyshire’s hand mimics and replaces that of the printer heads, meticulously building up each image layer by layer and colour by colour until the final image is complete. Revisiting notions around commodity culture and desire Darbyshire’s paintings each depict an advert chosen from a decade from the seventies through the noughties.

Matthew Darbsyshire lives between Rochester and London. Recent solos exhibitions include Oak Effect, The Shipley Art Gallery and Bloomberg, London; Matthew Darbyshire and the W.A. Ismay Collection, Hepworth Wakefield; A Way of Life (in homage to Jim Ede), Kettle’s Yard and T Rooms Tramway, Glasgow and Zabludowicz Collection, London. Recent group shows include Ideal Standard Forms, Galleria d’arte Moderna, GAM, Turin; ICA Off-Site; A Journey Through London Subculture: 1980s to Now.