Matthew Cowan

What is a Wildman, if not a figure on the edge of morality, he who is given license to transgress and forgive, he who exists in carnival and in imagination? Matthew Cowan presents a series of devils, fools, folk characters, and men on a threshold. A series of photographic performances for the camera incorporate foliate masks and depict a character on the verge of the familiar and unfamiliar, situated in urban and cultural scenes. This attire is made from what is at hand, materials collected and worked with and suggest disguises for rituals and ceremonies. Such camouflaged intentions and awkward, yet deliberate, placement reflect the peripheries of myth and folklore, an imagined but universal realm. Matthew Cowan (b.1974), is a New Zealand artist, working with traditional European customs. His works are photographs, videos, installations, and performances, which play with the inherent strangeness of the continued popularity of long established folk customs in a modern world. These works can be viewed as mock folk performances in themselves, playing with the elements of folk rituals that give people a link to the past.