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Student Showcase Archive
Show RCA 2019

Matthew Tate

Show RCA work

  • The Awakening

    The Awakening, Matthew Tate (modelled by Roshan D'arcy) 2019
    Digital Photography

  • Narcissus

    Narcissus, Matthew Tate 2019
    Digital Collage

  • Eve

    Eve, Matthew Tate (modelled by Olivia Smith) 2019
    Digital Photography

  • The Judgement of Paris

    The Judgement of Paris, Matthew Tate 2019
    Digital Collage

Major project:

Despite our differences my father and I have always used classical art as an unspoken dialogue to communicate and relate to one another. Through our mutual appreciation of Botticelli, Caravaggio, and the renaissance masters, I experienced how artists were able to capture cinematic moments that illustrate narrative tension.

Like the paintings from my childhood, I convey emotional complexity in the character’s faces and bodies. Through the latent gestures of the subjects, and the amalgamation of different technical elements, I engineer cinematic suspenseful moments for both the subject and the viewer to experience simultaneously. This communicates personal stories to them through an unspoken dialogue in the imagery.

Info

  • In my practice I use unspoken dialogues to capture cinematic moments that illustrate narrative tension. I use my research in mythology, cinema and history to engineer symbolic references in the image to enrich the narrative text of the work, which act as signals for the viewer to recognise.

    The imagery I create is a physical product of the amalgamation between the different elements of the image coming together. Be it the lighting, props, editing or characters, these elements are all selected to illustrate a personal aesthetic and contribute to the communication and aims of my imagery. 

    My work and imagery aims to interpret stories of romance, sexuality, obsession, beauty and tragedy – that I personally relate to – and communicate that to a wider audience, so that they may experience and understand them too.

  • Previous degrees

  • BA Illustration, Norwich University of the Arts, 2015
  • Experiences

  • Artist in Residence, King Edward’s School Witley, Witley 2015–2017; Independent Art Tutor, 2016–2018
  • Exhibitions

  • RCA Work in Progress Show, White City Place, London 2019; The Reader, Tenderbooks, London 2018; Matthew Tate - Lost in the Shadows, The Menier Gallery, London, 2017; Untold, The Bunker Gallery, Witley 2016; Printmaking, The Bunker Gallery, Witley, 2015; POP MY MIND, Ipswich, 2015; Unabridged, Guntons Building, Norwich, 2015
  • Publications

  • 'Seeing the Stars through the Clouds', Tales Magazine, Tales of the Curious Issue, August 2016; 'The Power of Silence', Tales Magazine, Tales of the Empowered Issue, February 2017
  • Awards

  • Awarded the Invention Award at the POP MY MIND exhibition, 2015
Royal College of Art