In the run up to the long-awaited Lambeth Open weekend, Brixton Blog’s Bobbie Lakhera caught up with one of the movers and shakers making waves on the local art scene, Matt Crump.
Matt Crump is a multidisciplinary artist working under the pseudonym THE 5683. With his father in the stationery business the 33 year old grew up with reams of paper to hand, which coupled with some “awesome art teachers” helped forge his interest in producing his own work. At university he studied Fashion Design but a year off graduation realised he didn’t want to be the next McQueen. He left infinitely happier with a first in Fine Art.
Ten years on and – as for many – paying the bills took priority and work commitments left Matt pursuing his art on the side. His epiphany came after a heady weekend studying the physical properties and market values of precious metals for a job interview to manage a gold bullion depot. “It was an hour before the interview and I was halfway there, when I realised I was being an idiot,” he told the Blog. “I got off the bus, crossed the road, went back home and literally dusted off the drawing board.”
Matt is currently working on an ongoing series ‘Commercium Craniorum’, named after the 19th Century anthropological hobby of collecting and studying skulls. Works incorporate antiquarian books scoured from across the UK. By ‘up-cycling’ long forgotten pictures and mixing 2D and stereoscopic anaglyph techniques, Matt creates hypnotic illusionary images.
On show will be a pair of Hawksbill turtles that contain up to 100 images each from vintage books. Sources include obituary scroll work from the Victorian age, punch magazine adverts from the 30s, life saving guides from the 50s, sailing and fishing books from the 70s and various oceanic cartography maps.
Matt says local encouragement gave him the confidence to make art his career rather than his hobby, “This year, having visited it for several, I secured a great pitch at Urban Art. It was an invaluable and amazing experience. I was greeted with such enthusiasm every day, and this awesome public reaction was an empowering vote of confidence that I was doing the right thing.
“The organisers of both Urban Art and Lambeth Open, in particular Tim Sutton, are a real tour de force at showing and promoting art in Brixton and throughout Lambeth.”
For the Lambeth Open Matt will be exhibiting at 70a Strathleven Road. You can also view his work at www.the5683.com, follow on twitter @the5683 or instagram @crump5683.
Lambeth Open weekend takes place on October 4 and 5 across the borough. To read more about all artists involved visit the website www.lambethopen.com
