Image 1 of 1
Matthew Draper is a draughtsman known for his atmospheric responses to the landscape of his native British Isles. His subjects have included the Scottish Highlands, his adopted home city of Edinburgh, and the South West of England.
Draper is influenced by the dramatic imagery of eighteenth- and nineteenth-century painting and is drawn to the Romantic tradition of landscape contemplation, as seen in the work of German Romantics such as Caspar David Friedrich. He also responds to the sense of grandeur expressed by American Sublime painters including Sanford Robinson Gifford and Frederic Edwin Church. The principal subject of Draper’s work is light in the landscape and the way it affects both the environment and the objects within it.
As a contemporary artist adopting this approach, Draper is not concerned with producing straightforward topographical images or literal illustrations of place. Instead, he aims to create imagery that describes the circumstances under which a subject is viewed—images that convey a sense of place. His drawings are emotional reactions to events and experiences unfolding in front of him, capturing moments that feel fleeting or on the verge of change, becoming like fading memories suspended in time.
Identifying principally as a draughtsman, Draper works primarily in chalk pastel. Often working on a large scale, his drawing technique is physical and gestural. He begins with broad sweeps of colour or crushed pastel to cover the surface of the paper, then manipulates the medium using his forearms, the palms of his hands, and his fingers. The act of making the work becomes a series of actions and events, creating a harmony between process and interpretation.
Biography and Career
Matthew Draper SSA, VAS, PS was born in Staffordshire in 1973. He trained at Walsall College of Art and Falmouth College of Art, where he obtained a BA (Hons) Fine Art in the early 1990s. In 1996, he moved to Edinburgh, where he is represented by The Scottish Gallery.
Since 1999, Draper has undertaken over twenty-six solo exhibitions with galleries throughout the UK, including Beaux Arts Bath, the Open Eye Gallery, Edinburgh, The Lemon Street Gallery, Truro, and The Scottish Gallery, Edinburgh.
His work is held in a number of public collections, including Falmouth Art Gallery, The New Gallery Walsall, the City of Edinburgh, City Art Centre Edinburgh, and Glasgow Museums, Kelvingrove Art Gallery. Corporate collections include the Bank of Scotland, Art in Healthcare, Baillie Gifford, Walter Scott & Partners, Canford School, The Edinburgh Academy, and Huawei Corporation, Hong Kong.
Draper has won more than twenty-seven awards, including the Alexander Graham Munro Travel Award (2000), Cross Gate Gallery Award, Kentucky, USA (2006), John Murray Thompson Award, Royal Scottish Academy (2006), Chairman’s Purchase Prize, Discerning Eye Exhibition (2007), Orrin Trust Award, National Open Art Exhibition (2013), and The Baltic Exchange Award, Mall Galleries, London (2019).
He was elected a Professional Member of the Scottish Society of Artists (SSA) in 2016, Visual Arts Scotland (VAS) in 2018, and The Pastel Society (PS) in 2011.