Portrait of the Heart

Matt Frock

Portrait of the Heart

Oil on stretched linen.

80 x 100 cm

In the words of the artist:

“Portrait of the Heart” was originally titled, “Portrait of the Artistist Howard Hodgkin,” followed by still more earlier attempts to understand what I had painted. This painting marks the emergence from experimentation and imitation to a deliberate creation with personal style. I had been setting out to make imitations of Hodgkins work, attempting to develop an understanding of his visual language. “Portrait of the Heart” was the first painting from those experiments to culminate into something more than a copy.

“Portrait of the Heart” depicts a tangled red muscle - an impossible knot – boxed within the confines of a golden door. The deep blue space within the box feels like a cold infinity of emptiness. The human heart emerges and bears itself to the outside world, vulnerable and alien. A reminder of the courage we should all hope to posses day to day.