Mat Barber Kennedy RI

Statement

Mat Barber Kennedy RI has spent his life looking at architecture around the world and his paintings of buildings are a celebration of the lives of ordinary people and the passing of time. They are a moment of recognition and applause for the everyday and the banal.

Methodology

Barber Kennedy's work is derived from paintings, drawings and notes that he makes on location observing real cities. He will spend a month or so each year studying and recording the subject matter that will sustain him for the rest of the year.

Barber Kennedy collects newspapers, receipts, wrappings and labels from his trips, some of which become incorporated into the fabric of finished paintings.

His work is all created with water-based media, primarily watercolour but also inks and some limited amounts of gouache and acrylic. The work derives much of its weight and intensity from the use of collage and a variety of thickening and glazing agents.

Barber Kennedy undertakes commissions regularly, always beginning with a period of time at the location to draw and paint and react to the subject in person.

Bio

1962 Born in Hornchurch, Essex

1981-84 Studied BA (Hons) in Architecture at the University of Sheffield (First class)

1986-88 Studied MA in the Department of Architecture at Royal College of Art

1989-90 Studied RIBA part 3 at South Bank University

1994 Elected a Member of the Royal Institute of Painters in Watercolours

2001- British Cultural Consultant, Cartus International, Chicago

2002 Faculty of Design, Columbia College, Chicago

2003- Taught Life Drawing, Watercolour and Postgraduate Studio, American Academy of Art, Chicago

Exhibitions

Solo Exhibitions:
2007 ‘Brush and Needle’, MBK Studios, Chicago

2004 ‘Havana’, ES Lawrence Gallery, Charleston

2003 ‘Charleston’, ES Lawrence Gallery, Charleston

Group Exhibitions:
2004/06 ‘International Drawing Biennale’, Plzen, Czech Republic

2003 ‘New Works by Mat Barber Kennedy and Katherine Brennand’, Linda Blackstone Gallery