Artist Matthew Burley

 

Matthew Stuart Burley is a full-time Photorealism Artist who grew up here in Cookham. He has created works for the likes of Danny Goffey from the band Supergrass and Sadie Frost. You have probably seen at least one of his pictures - on the Cookham Society Christmas cards last year (see below). You know the one - the snowy view from Cookham Bridge. I asked for a little more info on his art and life in general and here's what he had to say...

 

Tell me about your childhood in Cookham...

I was very lucky to grow up in a big family (I’m the fourth of five children) down a lovely little lane in Cookham called Roman Lea. There were lots of other young families down the lane at this time. Everyone down Roman Lea knew each other in those days, and so it was a very fun and safe place to spend a childhood. I’m still in contact with a lot of other kids from down there (of course we all have children of our own now). It was Stanley Spencer who said Cookham is 'a village in Heaven' and I'm inclined to agree with him. It was only once I’d become an adult and lived in so many other places that I’ve come to understand this fully. Cookham is really a very beautiful place. From time to time I’m reminded of how lucky I am to have been raised here. We moved to the Old Cricket Common in Cookham Dean when I was eight. I come back every three or four weeks with my wife and children to visit my parents and old friends. I usually coincide my visits with meetings or delivering paintings to clients.

    I now live and work in Rochester in Kent with my wife, Agi, and our two children, Samuel, four, and Abigail, nine months. We’ve lived in many places since we’ve been together; Bangkok, New York, Dallas... My job allows me
to work almost anywhere and so I’ve been happy to follow Agi wherever she’s wanted to work. Agi is a special needs teacher who specialises in children with motor disorders. 

 

Can you describe your artwork – your style/technique?

I suppose I’m best known for my Photorealism, the portraits in particular.
These paintings are about the beauty of reality and they also pay homage
to ‘the photograph’ and I hope they elevate the photographs too. To quote
my favourite living artist Gerhard Richter: 'The photograph is pure picture.' 

Painting portraits from photographs allows me to capture the subjects at a perfect moment in time, showing tiny nuances in expression, known only to those closest to them. I’m proud to be making an ongoing body of work that’s fundamentally about the love and importance of family. I work with acrylic on canvas usually. With acrylic being quick drying, water-based paint, I’m able to build up the painting in layers, glazing one layer over another quite quickly.

My other ongoing venture is abstract paintings that I guess are the ‘Yin’ to the 

realisms ‘Yang’. These paintings are a balance to the tight work of the realism. However they are still about forms in a space. 

 

Have you always been interested in doing this?

As a child, I always found drawing fun, relaxing and quite meditative. Both

my parents went to art college. My mother worked in animation; a company called Halas and Batchelor. They’d just finished ‘Animal Farm’ when she started with them. And my father is an architect, so I guess it’s in the genes.

   It was at secondary that I fell in love with paint, oil paint in particular. I was lucky to have an excellent art teacher at Desborough, Pamela Hutchins. The Renaissance Artists, particularly Michelangelo was a big favourite during my A-levels, and I also discovered John Singer Sargent. From here on I was in love with portraiture. 

   After Desborough I went to Central St Martins and then Exeter. I’m mostly self-taught though. I get my inspiration from everywhere; from a sea shell to a distant galaxy. I’m enjoying looking at microscopic images at the moment, so who knows where that will take me. 

 

Do you remember your first sale and what was it?

I used to sell drawings to friends at school when I was about 13. I think my first real commission was the still life ‘The Wedding Present’, left. I think I did this soon after my A-levels. Many of my paintings are gifts from my clients to friends and/or family.

 

Have you worked with any famous people/created work for them? 

One of my oldest friends is Danny Goffey from the band Supergrass. Danny and I met at Cookham Nursery School when we were three, and we’ve been friends ever since. In 1996 the band asked me to do the artwork for their Japanese release album cover. They also asked me to do the artwork for the first single of the album, 'Going Out’. I subsequently went on to produce three more single covers for that album. Danny also commissioned me to paint his children Alfie and Daisy. More recently, while I was living in New York, I painted Gaz Coombes’ daughter Raya May. The Danny connection led to me getting a call from Sadie Frost. Sadie commissioned me to paint her with all her children. Once I’d finished the painting Sadie mentioned it in an interview with the Guardian as being her favourite item in her house: 'I love this painting, it seems to sum up their personalities.' I hear Jude law likes the painting a lot too. I’ve also painted Tom Rosenthal and his parents Jim and Chrissy. 

 

You paint moments from films too – what are you favourite movie 

moments?

Yes I’ve only done a few of those so far. I’d like to do more soon. There are particular moments in certain films that mean a lot to me. There are so many to choose from though, I can’t tell you. There’s a great shot in E.T. which i’ll probably do next. Watch this space on that one.

 

Who is your idol?

Well, I’ve already mentioned Gerhard Richter and John Singer Sargent. Caravaggio is also right up there. But, but having said that, I’ve never been
so moved by a piece of work than one called ‘My Red Homeland’ made by
Anish Kapoor. It’s so difficult... it’s like asking who is your favourite musician.
I suppose John Singer Sargent is my biggest hero though. I think I was about

15 years old, on a school trip to the National Gallery, when I found myself 

completely captivated by the painting ‘Carnation Lily Lily Rose’ by Sargent. I was blown away by the way he’d managed to get that glow from the lanterns. It was almost as if there was a lamp behind the painting shining through the canvas. I think this is the moment when I knew I was going to be a Painter.

 

Do you participate in exhibitions? Tell me about your involvement in the 

Cookham Festival, past and present.

I try to exhibit as much as possible but I don’t seem to have as much time to produce as many works for sale as I’d like. This is a good thing though, in a
way, because it only means I’m too busy with commissions, so I can’t grumble.
In a way, my exhibitions are always happening in people's living rooms. I think most of my commissions come as a result of a friend of a client having seen
one or more of my paintings. Every few years I like to have a show of as much
as I can, including the Portrait commissions. Some of my portraits are for 

clients overseas so, unfortunately, I rarely get a chance to exhibit those. I’ve shown at the Barn Galleries in Henley many times and also at the Henley Exhibition Centre. I enjoy taking part in the Cookham Festival Open Studios;
that happens every couple of years at my parents' house up on the green.

It was great to take part in painting that huge reproduction of the Spencer painting a few years ago. Last year, I was very lucky to be asked to submit

a painting for the Cookham Society Christmas card. My painting of a snowy
view from Cookham Bridge was not only one of the two selected, but ended

up being the first Christmas card they have ever ran that completely sold out. I am taking part again this year. My exhibition of portrait paintings at The Gallery at Elizabeth House runs to 29th May. 10am-3pm weekdays, 11am-3pm festival weekends. Free entry!

 

What is the best part of having your own business? And the worst? Do you 

love doing what you do?

I feel very lucky to be a self-employed Artist. Being able to be your own boss and explore a subject that interests you is a wonderful thing. It isn’t always easy though, I’m a father of two who works from home and although Samuel goes to nursery and we also have a childminder, sometimes for them both, I’m juggling my business with trying to be the best house husband that I can. Do I love what I do? Well it breaks down like this; 1.Family 2.Friends and 3.Painting.

My painting ‘Up The Jolly’ was commissioned by Mike Smith. It includes Owen, 

Guy and Susan Smith, along with my brother, myself and four other friends, in the Jolly Farmer. I took the photos for this painting on the same day my new wife and I were having a wedding party at the Jolly Farmer. A good day.

 

Fore more information on Matthew, visit