Statement
Rene Matić (b. 1997, Peterborough) is an artist currently working in London. Their work brings together themes of post-blackness, glitch feminism and subcultural theory in a meeting place they describe as rude(ness) – bringing to light (or dark) the fated conflicts and contradictions that one encounters while navigating the world in a body like their own.
Matić’s research reaches back to post-war Britain and the survival tactics and ‘tap dances’ of Britain’s Brown babies. They take their departure point from dance and music movements such as Northern soul, Ska and 2-Tone. Matić’s current work predominantly explores the Skinhead movement, its founding as a multicultural marriage between West Indian and white working-class culture and its subsequent co-option by far-right white supremacists. They use this as a metaphor to examine their own experience of living in the Black British diaspora, to excavate white jealousy, the continued legacy of colonialism and the fear of a Black planet - all things which find convergence within and upon their mixed-race identity.
Education
BA Fine Art, Central St Martins, 2017 - 2020
Performances & Publications
2021 flags for countries that don't exist but for bodies that do, Arcadia Missa Publishing
2021 Network Futures: Online Exhibitions and Digital Hierarchies, edited by Bob Bicknell-Knight
2021 How To Sleep Faster, Arcadia Missa
2020 If I Was Your Boyfriend, Fem Press
2020 And Mum, Rile Space, Brussels
2020 This is England and This is England and This is England, Self Published
2020 Saving Ourselves, Polyester Zine
2019 Interjection Calender, Montez Press
2019 How to Avoid Being Attacked, self published
2019 Urban Space and Queer Subcultures, Autograph ABP, London
2019 Body Politić, Shades of Noir
2018 How to Sleep Faster, Arcadia Missa
2018 Crack magazine X Fred Perry Zine
2018 Polyester Issue 8
Selected Exhibitions
2021 (SOLO) flags for countries that don't exist but for bodies that do, Arcadia Missa Gallery, London
2021 Arcadia, Bold Tendencies, London, curated by Hannah Barry and Charlie Mills
2021 Bloomberg New Contemporaries, South London Gallery, chosen by Alexandre da Cunha, Anthea Hamilton and Linder.
2021 LEAN, Kunsthall Stavanger, curated by Legacy Russell
2021 Time Out of Joint, digital exhibition, isthisit?, curated by Bob Bicknell-Knight
2020 LEAN, digital exhibition, Performa Arts, curated by Legacy Russell
2020 (SOLO) Born British Die British, VITRINE Gallery, London
2020 Friends and Friends of Friends, Schlossmuseum, Linz, curated by Oli Epp and Aindrea Emelife
2020 Bloomberg New Contemporaries, Digital Platform, chosen by Alexandre da Cunha, Anthea Hamilton and Linder.
2020 London Grads Now, Saatchi Gallery, London,
2020 Sounding Off 2.0, Vitrine Gallery Digital, curated by William Clarke and Alys Williams
2020 Bold Tendencies, London, curated by Hannah Barry and Charlie Mills
2020 (SOLO) we give a lead to britain, digital exhibition, Arcadia Missa curated by Rozsa Farkas
2019 Lesbiennale, 4:3, digital exhibition, curated by Nadine Ahmed and Naeem Davis
2019 BBZ Alternative Graduate Show, Copeland Gallery, London, curated by Deborah Joyce Holman
2019 G.U.T.S, Ugly Duck Gallery, London, curated by Ellie Pennick
2019 In Memory of Naomi Hersi, Atrium Gallery, London, curated by Chad Ndebele and Maria João Tralhão Dolan.
2018 LDN WMN, The Black Cultural Archives, London, curated by Tate Collective
2018 My Chain Hits My Chest, Attic Space, Nottingham, curated by Agil Abdullayev
2018 Life and Death, Cloud and Horse, London, curated by Ione Gamble
2018 Feeling Pink Like My Insides, Hume Gallery, Chicago, curated by Ken Folk
2017 Riot! Riot! Riot!, Protein Gallery, London, curated by Sophia Tassew
2017 If We're Going to Heal Let it Be Glorious, The Royal Standard, Liverpool, curated by Black Blossoms
2016 Mrs September, The White Pube, digital residency