Best known for paintings that combine abstract forms and material boldness to invoke spaces that are at once ethereal, menacing, and enchanting, Manuel Mathieu approaches his practice as a site of experimentation and play. All Spells brings together new and recent multisensory sculptural installations and films that extend the depth and complexity of his practice. Across these works, Mathieu often transforms materials through fire; through burning and singeing fabric or firing clay, which speaks of erasure and loss, but also an unbreakable optimism that considers the power of transformation, alchemy, and renewal. Mathieu’s engagement with destruction is never without the possibility of creation, suggesting both the violence of power and the possibility of resisting or overturning it. The collisions of shape and colour so distinctive and evocative in his paintings resonate with the narrative and atmospheric quality of his films, while the seductive power of scent evokes a rupture in our sense of time and space. If creation is the true antonym of destruction, All Spells offers a crucible toward birth – and ultimately, incarnation.
Image: Manuel Mathieu, Ouroboros, 2020. Detail. Courtesy of the artist. Photo by: Guy L’Heureux.