Raw and Ragged: Clad by Matthew Raw

4-14 May '17

The Ragged School Museum on the banks of Regent’s Canal has witnessed almost two centuries of change in East London, as a succession of communities have come and gone, each leaving their own traces on the urban landscape. Even the museum buildings themselves have evolved over the decades: warehouse to schoolhouse, factory to museum. There can therefore be few more appropriate settings to host the artist Matthew Raw’s first solo show, Clad – a study of urban evolution, and the migrant populations that drive it, in sculptural ceramic tiles.

For 10 days from 4–14 May, Raw will be displaying eight specially created artworks in clay, terracotta and earthenware tiles. Each piece is a response to the concept of the urban grid – the framework of streets, buildings, paving stones and indeed tiles, that shapes the cities around us – and the ways in which those grids are transformed by the movement of people over time.

The eight works vary in scale and form. ‘Individual Motives’, is composed of large, hand-rolled tiles featuring details of etchings found in Dr Barnado’s Night & Day journal, published at the time he founded the Ragged School. Another piece, ‘Panel Discussion’ comprises four three-dimensional tiles inspired by a 15th-century Italian shrine and featuring a quote from Victorian journalist Henry Mayhew in hand- formed clay lettering. ‘Fearful Symmetry’ directly addresses the issue of who creates urban grids, while ‘Top Table’ explores the connections between empire and exploitation.

http://mraw.co.uk
http://www.raggedschoolmuseum.org.uk

Ragged School Museum
46-50 Copperfield Road
E3 4RR