Matthew Collings

March 19-Matthew Collings, art writer and artist

Matthew Collings, the British artist and writer, has been recognized throughout a diverse and emphatic career for his wit and brilliant perspective on art and the culture that surrounds it. As the editor of Artscribe, a timely publication that regularly featured contributions by Art & Language; the creator, writer, and host of a number of TV documentaries, including the six-part series This Is Modern Art, which won many awards, including a BAFTA; and an author of books about contemporary art in London that combine informed description with “seeing the black heart in everything,” Collings has received notable recognition, including a special commendation from the Turner Prize committee. His exhibition Matthew Collings and Emma Biggs: Suspicious Utopias opens March 23 at Fort Worth Contemporary Arts.

For this Tuesday Evenings presentation, Collings promises an evening of aesthetic intensity and lurid biography as he shares the peculiar life experiences that fed into his optimistic abstract paintings about light that he makes in collaboration with mosaicist Emma Biggs. The paintings stand in stark contrast to the acute and uncompromising look he takes as a writer and commentator, while nevertheless being made with the conviction that, as stated on Collings’s website, "Art, as it used to be understood, has come to an end." 

The spring series for Tuesday Evenings at the Modern begins February 12 and ends April 23. These lectures and presentations by artists, architects, historians, and critics are held in the Modern's auditorium and begin at 7 pm. Free admission tickets (limit two) can be picked up at the Modern's information desk beginning at 5 pm on the day of the lecture. Seating begins at 6:30 pm and is limited to the first 250 ticketholders. A live broadcast of the lectures is shown in Café Modern for any additional guests. The Museum galleries remain open until 7 pm on Tuesdays during the series (regular gallery admission charge applies).

Café Modern is open for dinner on Tuesday nights during the lecture series. Enjoy a fine dining experience before or after the lecture; seating is available from 5 pm to 8:30 pm. For reservations, call 817.840.2157 or visit www.themodern.org/cafe. 

A Greater Light, 2012. Biggs and Collings. 80 x 80 in oil on canvas.