Matthew Hindley – Resurrection (der brennende Wald) is an exhibition that opened last week at the Everard Read Gallery and the artist will do a walkabout at 11:00 on Saturday 7 November.
What I hoped to convey was the pure sensation of fire itself, eliminating symbol, metaphor and allegory. I was inspired by Bacon’s ideal of making the painting impact directly on the nervous system. For me the return to technology (with the sound recordings) heightens the degree of reality, and provides the viewer with a profoundly immersive experience that transcends the merely visual.  Matthew Hindley 2015
Matthew Hindley – Resurrection (der brennende Wald)
From April the 20th, 2015, large sections of Table Mountain were devastated by a raging conflagration that destroyed everything in its path. Hindley’s resurrection (der brennende Wald) capturing these fires, and presents it as a primeval destructive force that operates with a terrifying ferocity. All palpitating action and series of tumultuous events this body of new works guides the audience though the struggle, agony, death, defeat and finally, as it unfolds reconciliation and acceptance.
Downstairs the Resurrection series all revolve around a nurturing goddess who, in the throes of a ritual, gazes down at the flowering fire lilies- the first sign of nature’s regeneration. In Resurrection II specifically, the figure is seated upon a smokeblackened rock throne, surrounded by scorched shrubs and blossoming fire-lilies. Beside a beautiful coastal landscape pervaded by serenity and calm she is enveloped in timeless, flowing, white drapery. This goddess-like figure reminds one of those idealized in ancient Roman or Greek pagan traditions, which represented the earth’s fecundity.
Upstairs there is the sheer brilliance of the colour and light on the largest fire painting Weltschmerz. The mountain, completely devoid of any pastoral overtones, instead becomes an apocalyptic vision of doom. Welt = world: schmerz = pain and the two add up to something analogous to Virgil’s lacrimae rerum. The multipart Der brennende Wald series of smaller canvases spread around the room emulate the course of the active blaze. From the ground, from the sea, the air, from highways and the slopes, Hindley continually shifts the viewpoints. Grand panoramic vistas alternate with close-ups that almost immerse us in billowing walls of flame that seem so real it scalds our flesh, smoke chokes our throats, and our eyes run. Sometimes the scene is seen in crisp focus, and sometimes the smoke causes blurring so pronounced that the image verges on abstraction. In the background the senses are heightened further by the recording of actual forest fires blazing that the artist has sourced, and this makes a welcome return for Hindley to electronic media after a long absence.
As one of the countries’ most recognized younger painters, Hindley’s intense, poetic and delving artworks have featured in various critical and seminal South African exhibitions.  Hindley’s exhibition of drawings at David Krut Cape Town coincided with the official launch of the book, The Five Magic Pebbles & other stories. This was followed by his painting presentation Resurrection (der brennende Wald) at the Everard Read Cape Town gallery, also in October 2015.
WHERE: Everard Read Gallery, 3 Portswood Rd, Green Point (V&A Waterfront), Cape Town 8001
WHAT: Resurrection (der brennende Wald), the first solo presentation by Matthew Hindley at the Cape Town space.
WHEN: The exhibition will run until the 10th November. The artist will conduct a public walkabout Saturday 7th November at 11am.
