Mini Proust with Matthew Linott

Matthew Lintott is a Bristol-based printmaker, often working with rehydrated ink from 200 million years-old Jurrassic fossils.

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Henry Martin: What is your current state of mind?  

Matthew Linott: A tiny bit fragile. Still recovering from a house party in honour of my birthday just a few days ago...

Henry: What do you consider the most overrated virtue?

Matthew: Faith. It has the capacity to be very static. We have a habit of stopping asking the questions that got us to the understanding in the first place. I think if we halt the wonder we lose our dynamism. I keep needing to remind myself to honour the unknown more. If the only true constant in life is change, then mystery is that change unfolding in front of our eyes. I think an artist's role is to explore that mystery, not to explain it or dismantle it, but simply to celebrate it, immerse yourself within it, without the need to replicate it.

Henry: Finish this for me: “I remember…

Matthew: Many of my earliest artistic endeavours. The feeling of having created something I was proud of seared the moment, the feeling into my memory

'Namazu III' 21 x 61 cm Woodcut and graphite 1/10 EV &

'Namazu' 21 x 61cm Woodcut and graphite 1/10 EV, Courtesy of Matthew Lintott.

Henry: Who or what inspires you? 

Matthew: My mentor Thomas Gosebruch. His artwork expands the more you speak with him.  The strange, wonderful and gorgeous objects that the french ceramicist Pierre Bayle creates. And recently the woodcuts of Matthew Colaizzo.

Henry: What is your idea of happiness? 

Matthew: The Outdoors. Conversations with the trees. Solace in the mountains. Being restored by the ocean. Long winding musings with my wife discussing creativity, and of course being lost in the deep waters of creativity. 

Henry: What is your motto? 

Matthew: Be grateful, be present, this experience is fleeting. 

Henry: In your view, what is the relationship between the specific and the universal in art? 

Matthew: Some of my most personal work, about the death of my father, has had the most universal appeal. We all share the same emotions. it's only the context that separates us. 

'Transition' 41x60cm. Mixed media woodcut. 1/1, Courtesy of Matthew Lintott

Henry: Complete this sentence: “Love is…

Matthew: ... lost in the careless gestures. A quote from a friend, wordsmith and Minnesotan teller of tales Mr Kevin Kling. Love isn't found in the grand gesture. It's in the cups of tea, the acts of kindness and the foot rubs. It's in the everyday. 

Henry: What keeps you awake at night? 

Matthew: Self-judgement.

Henry: What is the role of art today? 

Matthew: To provide a money laundering service and an asset and wealth transfer for the super rich. That and of course to inspire and to enrich ourselves. To build a better vocabulary for interpreting and appreciating the world. We should put our kids in front of every artistic expression we can find. However weird or foreign it seems. The arts are not a luxury, they are vital to our ability to express and relay complex emotions. Imagine a world with no music, no literature, no visual arts, no dance, no theatre, no poetry. The bleakness is overwhelming.

'Modern Relics' Solo show, Centrespace, Bristol, 2022. Courtesy of Matthew Lintott

Henry: What is your most treasured possession? 

Matthew: Artistically it's a kilim (rug) from Morocco. It's a riot of colour depicting a landscape on the verge of abstraction. I bought it with my mum 10 years ago. It took us 5hrs to negotiate. Slow time, over many cups of tea. She is a big reason why I'm an artist. She filled the house with art, I grew up with art everywhere. Sculpture, prints, paintings, ceramics, textiles. So much so that I find it deeply emotionally comforting to be surrounded by art. 

Henry: What is your madeleine de Proust?*

Matthew: Durian stinky fruit. It takes me back to the jungles of Borneo...

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MATTHEW LINTOTT

Lintott is a visual artist with a specialisation in woodcut printmaking. He writes: "My work is an exploration of deep time and space. I view my work as a collaboration with the past, and with the ancient materials I am working with. Inspiration for my work comes from myth, symbolism, and the geological perspective. I use recurring visual motifs of landscape and abstracted animal forms to create ‘modern relics’. These emblems offer the viewer a gateway to the ancient." Lintott is based in Bristol, working out of the Bricks community studio space. He prints predominantly by hand without the use of a printing press.

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