Mat Barber Kennedy
Biography
Mat Barber Kennedy was born in Hornchurch, Essex, in 1962. He studied Architecture at the University of Sheffield, graduating with a First Class BA (Hons) in 1984, followed by an MA in Architecture at the Royal College of Art in 1988. He completed his RIBA Part 3 at South Bank University in 1990.
From 2001, Mat worked in Chicago as British Cultural Consultant for Cartus International, before joining Columbia College as part of its Faculty of Design. In 2003, he taught life drawing, watercolour and postgraduate studies at the American Academy of Art, Chicago. He was awarded the Turner Medal in London in 2008 and is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts.
Artist Statement
Mat Barber Kennedy’s paintings of buildings celebrate the lives of ordinary people and the passing of time. Having spent his life looking at architecture around the world, he draws attention to the everyday and the seemingly unremarkable.
His work is derived from paintings, drawings and notes made on location while observing real cities. He spends a month or so each year studying and recording subject matter that will sustain him for the rest of the year.
He collects newspapers, receipts, wrappings and labels from his trips, some of which become incorporated into the fabric of the finished paintings. Working with water-based media, primarily watercolour, as well as inks and limited amounts of gouache and acrylic, he builds weight and intensity through collage and a variety of thickening and glazing agents.