Subdivision No.7, Matthew de Moiser (#056)

Subdivision No.7
Matthew de Moiser
76cm x 56cm
Hand-cut aerial photographs on Arches Aquarelle watercolour paper

Check out Matthew's work: www.matdemoiser.com

Matthew de Moiser is a Melbourne based artist recognised for his use of everyday household objects, mediums and materials as the basis for new works that speak about the Australian suburban condition.

He first became known for his suburban landscapes assembled from meticulously cut pieces of coloured laminex, winning the Sunshine Coast Art Prize and Flanagan Art Prize in 2014. He has since gone on to work with found long stitch embroideries, IKEA furniture parts, and even other artists' work. Regardless of the medium or material used, his work always seems to posses a deep yearning for the sublime in the most unlikely of places.

Subdivision No. 7 is a photographic collage made from 196 hand-cut aerial photographs of suburban house rooftops. From a distance, the work can be viewed as pure geometric abstraction. Up close it is more like the blueprint for a vast suburban utopia.

Originally, this body of work related to the outer suburban sprawl of Melbourne where I grew up. However, within the context of this fundraiser for the UNICEF Ukraine Emergency Appeal, it takes on a different meaning — suggesting Soviet-style urban planning that shaped Eastern Europe including Ukraine and Estonia where my grandparents fled from when the former Soviet Union invaded in 1940.

Above all else, but especially right now, this work is about the sanctity of home.