MAT DUGARD
Culture PK Commission
In November of 2020 Mat Dugard was Selected by Culture PK to create artworks for two sites in Perth Scotland. One site was Perth Museum and Art Gallery and the second was Ak Bell Libary. The commission was to create artworks that centered around the Covid-19 Pandemic and try to reconnect people with public spaces once more.
As both sites are listed Heritage sites each one presents certain limitations in materials and execution.
For Perth Museum the Historic four columns of the facade of the building were wrapped in VCP banner. The design was created digitally by Mat Dugard before being sent to be fabricated.
The design of the columns features a bold tapestry of images and iconography abstracted by Dugard from motifs of the Pandemic and parts of the collection of Perth Museum. The intent is to create a celebration of culture. The bold illustration contrast with the grand architecture of the Museum and shinning out to passers-by.
"I wanted to emphasis the absence of the person from the space"
Perth Musuem and Art Gallery
The centerpiece of the design is the phrase "Until We Hold Each Other Again". Mat Dugard's romantic wording completely sums up to passers-by the want of so many to go back to a
pre-pandemic word. The inclusion of the text is optimistic and invites onlookers to keep going forward in the knowledge life will return to normal and we will prevail.
The installation at Perth Museum will be up for five years. When we finally leave this pandemic the banners will serve as a reminder of the time the world stopped. When we all retreated to our houses and longed for the embrace of our loved ones.
Ak Bell Libary
As part of the Culture PK Commission Mat Dugard created several artworks on the doors of AK Bell Libary. The doors included the Main Entrance, Side Entrance, and the Good Entrance Door.
Playing with the idea of inviting people back into public spaces Mat Dugard wanted to create a sense of depth to the doors by highlighting aspects of the door and cover other elements. The result is a subtle optical illusion.
In turn, working with the brief, images symbolising freedom, change, determination, and resolve were included to build the final compositions.
Main Entrance of AK Bell Libary.
Motifs of Birds were used to symbolize the freedom we have lost during the pandemic and the freedom that will return when it ends.
This Mural is based on a previous smaller painting entitled "Freedom Flying".
Good Entrance door of AK Bell Libary
Unlike the Main Entrance and the Good Entrance, the Side Entrance Mural went in a different direction.
Clearly visible from the public car park on-site Dugard wanted the mural to inspire passersby about the wonders library can have. The inspiration words of the books on the vast shelves of the Library transporting people to another world.
That feeling of escapism was something Dugard wanted to capture with this Mural. Based on a smaller Painting entitled "And the Mind Leaves the Body".
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