Matthew Chambers

"Working alongside ceramicist Philip Wood, who instilled in him the technical rigour that grants both freedom and mastery of the material, and later at the Royal College of Art, where he developed a more personal expression and conceptual approach, Matthew Chambers has been exploring the theme of the circle for more than twenty years. Such a definition might seem somewhat restrictive for these tangles of lines and curves, these circles and ovals intersecting one another, this subtle balance between interior and exterior, these stoneware objects that create dense inner depths or symbolise passages, or even apertures… As the artist reminds us, however, it is indeed a figure with infinite potentialities. En revenant à une forme simple et élémentaire, je peux explorer d’innombrables variations tout en conservant une cohérence d’ensemble. Elle fonctionne à la fois comme contrainte et liberté – un point de départ simple qui s’ouvre sans cesse sur de nouvelles possibilités. » By choosing a universal pattern from the outset, he places himself within the history of sculpture and ceramics and emphasises an indefinite temporality, beyond trends."
Marie Maertens, journalist and curator, excerpt from the exhibition catalogue