© Matthew Stone. Courtesy La Scatola Gallery.
In a coup by a medium-sized Shoreditch gallery, La Scatola is soon to open its doors on a major show by Matthew Stone. After all, work or performance by this exciting young artist has recently featured at BALTIC, the Royal Academy, the ICA and Tate Britain.
But despite his relative youth, Stone has a long list of occupations to his name. These include photographer, sculptor, curator, writer, self styled optimist, cultural provocateur and, of course, performance artist.
He even describes himself as a shaman, so watch out Marcus Coates (although you’d have to say the more experienced voyager to the spirit world has got that angle pretty well sown up).
Nevertheless, Stone is a popular figure in the South London art scene, and this may have less to do with transcendental quests and more to do with his track record for organising parties and guerrilla art exhibitions in local squats.
Leading the ents organisation !WOWOW!, he got rave reviews from the UK’s bestselling style magazines. And in 2008, !WOWOW! took over Tate Britain and drew 4,000 visitors to a Stone performance.
La Scatola may be pleased with a fraction of those crowds. Either way, a party vibe is to be expected - or, at the very least, hoped for.
- Open Tuesday-Friday 11am-6pm (7pm Saturday). Admission free.
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