The outsider artist: Mastering the mundane

Matthew Wickham (39), who lives in Drumoak near Banchory, is exhibiting his unusual end-of-year project at Gray's School of Art Masters Degree Show.

Originally from South-east England, Matthew has been studying for a Masters in Fine Art at Robert Gordon University's 125-year-old institution and is set to graduate in December.

Matthew's exhibit, entitled ‘Museum of the Hyperreal: Boo inside the White Cube', explores the work of his split personality: Matthew the student, who curates and showcases work; and his alter-ego ‘Boo Simulacrum' - the outsider artist he becomes.

Fully immersing himself in Boo's character to produce thought-provoking art, Matthew examines the difficult relationship artists on the fringes of society have with formal galleries such as his ‘White Cube Gallery'.

Giving significance to the seemingly every day and mundane activities of ‘real' people, Matthew hopes to challenge the exclusive and bourgeois nature of the formal gallery context.

Matthew explains: "I am inspired by the plight of the under-valued, under-privileged, excluded and disenfranchised members of our society; in other words, I am inspired by the outsider."

When morphed into ‘the outsider artist', Matthew wears a long dirty jacket, boots, and hat, reflecting undertones of Boo's personality: vagrancy, addiction, multiple-personality syndrome and obsessive compulsive disorder.

The exhibition includes a raised platform featuring furniture - created by Boo - including a used bed, table and chair, and a dressing-up box featuring various costumes. The platform also contains other materials or ‘residue' of Boo's time spent ‘dossing' in the gallery while creating his work, such as empty alcohol bottles and cigarette butts.

Matthew's exhibit also includes a film projection of Boo at work, white plinths displaying the traditional tools, materials and other objects used to make his installations and a ‘White Cube'. It is in this ‘White Cube' that Matthew will transform into Boo on opening night and create art in character.

Commenting on his time at Gray's, Matthew said: "I've really enjoyed developing my practice on the Masters course, the advice and direction given by my course tutor, Iain Irving, has been great and valuable to me as an artist."

Upon graduating, Matthew would like to start a new gallery and artists' collective in Aberdeen for emerging artists and those who produce non-commercial art.

After its launch on Friday 3 September, Gray's School of Art Masters Degree Show will be open to the public until Saturday 11 September, from 10am-8pm Monday to Friday and 10am-5pm on Saturdays.

For more information, please visit www.rgu.ac.uk/mastersdegreeshow.

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