Matthew Wilkinson: My So-Called Life

Dates: 21 September - 15 November 2006
Venue: Hiscox Art Projects, 1 Great St Helen's, London, EC3A 6HX

Private View: 20 September 18.30 - 20.30

From a technicolour fairground in Wales to partygoers gathered in an English field at dawn, Matthew Wilkinson's first solo exhibition features 19 photographs of subjects from all over the world. As a filmmaker, Wilkinson has travelled extensively. Locations include Croatia, Paris, London, Wales and Sarajevo as well as Louisiana where he has recently filmed a documentary The Promised Land, the story of a newly formed band, Lil' Band of God.

The exhibition takes its title from My So-Called Life, a teenage TV drama from the early nineties. Wilkinson's exhibition is a series of 19 images, each one representing an episode. He has never seen the TV series, but was interested in the idea of capturing a certain period in a personal history through film. The diverse range of photographs Wilkinson has selected for the exhibition similarly reflect a specific period in his life, a series of moments he has chosen to connect, either as a record of a memory or as documenting characters and people he met on his travels.

Matthew Wilkinson (b. 1977) has participated in several group exhibitions including Scope - art on the Verge (2004), She's No Angel at James Coleman Gallery (2004), and 'Orrible Little Bastards at Neon Gallery (2003). As a cinematographer and a director, his work has appeared on Channel 4 in Sounds of The Underground, and the Portobello Film festival in Saintly Behaviour. He has worked as an editor/cinematographer on many promotional music videos working with Adam Smith, Alistair Siddons, RSA Films, Cowboy Films, Colonel Blimp, Dunhill, Mick Rock, and The Goodwood Festival of Speed.

Elliot McDonald, Hiscox Curator, said: "Matthew's background as a filmmaker gives his photographic work a distinct grounding in the idea of cinematic narrative. However, the pleasure of his work is in the striking originality and beauty of the images, which more than stand on their own. We are delighted to be giving Matthew his first solo exhibition."

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For further information including images please contact:
Anna Cusden Kallaway 020 7221 7883 anna.cusden@kallaway.co.uk

For further general information about Hiscox Art Projects please contact:
Elliot McDonald Hiscox 020 7448 6455 elliot.mcdonald@hiscox.com


Hiscox and Contemporary Art
Hiscox has a long and established association with contemporary art and is well-known for owning, collecting and insuring fine art. Hiscox was one of the first UK insurers to offer art insurance as a stand-alone insurance class for private collectors, museums and galleries. Driven by Chairman Robert Hiscox, the company has an impressive contemporary art collection that features over 50 artists including Damien Hirst, Richard Billingham, Marc Quinn, Mat Collishaw, Keith Coventry, Gregory Crewdson, Mark Wallinger and Cecily Brown. The collection is on permanent display in Hiscox offices around the world and is regularly updated.

Hiscox Art Projects is a contemporary exhibition space situated within the café of Hiscox's London office which aims to make contemporary collections and exhibitions readily accessible to those living and working in the City, as well as the wider art community. In addition to this, Hiscox enjoys uncovering and encouraging emerging talent and sponsors degree shows at the Ecole des Beaux Arts in Paris and the Master of Fine Art Degree Show at the Glasgow School of Art.

For further information, go to www.hiscox.com/artprojects

About Hiscox plc
Hiscox plc is a specialist insurance group listed on the London Stock Exchange. There are three main underwriting parts of the Group - Hiscox Global Markets, Hiscox UK and Europe, and Hiscox International. Hiscox Global Markets underwrites mainly internationally traded business in the London Market - generally large or complex business which needs to be shared with other insurers or needs the international licences of Lloyd's. Hiscox UK and Hiscox Europe offer a range of specialist insurance for professionals and business customers, as well as high net worth individuals. Hiscox International includes offshore operations in Bermuda and Guernsey and Hiscox USA.
For further information, go to www.hiscox.com

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