Matthew Harris
Matthew Harris
(Mixed European/Koorie descent, b. 1991, Wangaratta. Lives and works in Melbourne, Victoria)
From painting to sculpture Matthew Harris’ practice seeks to debase normative hierarchies with a mix of queer sentimentality, cuteness, vulgarity and abjection.
Big love, 2021, is a soft sculpture Harris created in collaboration with his mother, Glenice Harris. Constructed from a combination of possum pelts and pink synthetic fur, the work is described by Harris as ‘a gesture of love to mob’. Sourced from Aotearoa / New Zealand, the possum pelts reflect the artist’s recent interest in the tradition of possum-skin cloaks, which hold particular historical and cultural significance to First Peoples in South East Australia. (‘Possum’ is also a nickname given to Harris by his family.) Originally exhibited as part of Harris’s exhibition Goo (2021) at Futures Gallery, Melbourne, Big love is now in the National Gallery of Victoria’s permanent collection.
Harris has exhibited solo at FUTURES, Gertrude Glasshouse, TBC, Connors Connors, Melbourne Art Fair and Neon Parc in Melbourne, and Galerie Pompom and Alaska Projects in Sydney. Recent group exhibitions have included ACCA, Spring 1883 Art Fair and Incinerator Gallery, Melbourne; Murray Art Museum, Albury; Sullivan+Strumpf, Sydney; and Ashes/Ashes, New York City. He has also worked on curatorial projects at West Space, Arts Project Australia and Bus Projects. Matthew is a current studio artist at Gertrude Contemporary (2020–23). Harris is represented by FUTURES.