Draegath - The Art of Matt Benson-Parry

Art is a mirror held up to history.

Art is a means to record a transience, whether that be a point in time or history or even a point in the psycological break of an artist. Art in itself cannot change history but may only ever reflect it.

Monsters and demons are a way of establishing norms within a society. The way that asociety manufactures its devils is often far more intriguing than the way that it raises its heroes, although both are fundamental and important. I like to use both to reflect upon society, with its complications and paranoias. My paintings are about feeling mighty and feeling small, about dead practices and strange living ones. Its about sharing similarities that you never knew you had.

Finally, my art is a about my sense of place. It is about being a white man in a black land, about living on borrowed soil. my antecedents borrowed it from other people, just as my descendants may well borrow it from me. Nothing is absolute in Australia. Especially not art or history.