The second solo exhibition of illustrator “matthew mallow” is being held for a limited time from April 9th to April 24th at the coffee shop “Coffee by Jalana” that opened in Ameyoko in September last year. “Matthew mallow” works drawn for this solo exhibition, original goods, and collaboration T-shirts with Jalana are on sale.
ANIMAL EXPRESS
The title of the exhibition is “Animal Express”, which depicts the daily lives of animals. Works created by combining the image that animals may behave in the same way as humans with his own actual experiences are exhibited. Also, this is the second solo exhibition of “matthew mallow”. The first was held in Shibuya. The main visual at that time was made by arranging a green card, but this time the motif is a gold card with the meaning of upgrading.
Introducing works at once
「neither red nor green」
Humans tend to try to fit into the frame by personality, blood type, and so on.Some people want to apply it to anything, others aren’t interested in it at all. The most important thing is that person. A work with a message that it is not good to label it as a brand without knowing it.
「Symbol of peace」
If a pigeon is on the road while you are in a car, it may obstruct passage. When the car approaches, the pigeon flies somewhere. Despite being a symbol of peace, he has the impression that it has been treated poorly. This works expresses the anger of the pigeon that it may plunge into a human if the position is opposite between a human and a pigeon in the same situation.
「Apple support」
In modern society, the production volume of Apple products such as iPhone and iPad is very large. A work created by imagining what would happen if Apple products were produced in the animal world. It expresses the image that there may be cats biting an apple during the work if they attach a large number of apple marks which are Apple’s symbols. Also, unlike in the real world, in the animal world, he also wants cats to manually attach apple marks.
Interview with illustrator “matthew mallow”
「matthew mallow」
He started activities as an illustrator three years ago while studying painting by himself. He caught the attention of various companies and celebrities while posting the works on the official Instagram of “matthew mallow” and became a hot topic. He has a track record of rock band “04 Limited Sazabys” goods, “Unko Drill” booklet for young children, logo production for many privately owned stores, and so on.
“Matthew mallow” concept
He owns cats, and since he is a big animal lover, the concept through the creative activities of matthew mallow is that “I like animals. Don’t you think it’s the best healing? Felidae is especially good.” Also, due to the influence of his parents who like American comics, he has been mainly interested in animation from the 1930s to the 1970s from an early age, leading to the current style. Basically, he doesn’t draw people or landscapes, only animals. He doesn’t intend to break this style in the future.
-What is the charm of painting?
“Paintings are what people see, so I want to make them happy. There are various illustrators such as those who write gag, those who write painful depictions, those who write adult depictions. The appeal of painting is that what all illustrators wants to convey through painting is different, and everyone can be different. “
-What are the difficulties in making works?
Sometimes the subject does not match the pictorial pattern, and even if the subject and the motif of the picture are decided, it cannot be drawn for some reason. Even if the concept is decided, it may not be possible to draw the picture as expected. There are such difficulties in creating a picture.
-What is the reward of working as an illustrator?
“I’m happy to hear from our business partners that customers are h
