Matt Arbuckle: Place to Place

This monograph surveys Aotearoa/New Zealand-born Matt Arbuckle's recent works, with particular attention paid to two exhibitions: Bow Echo (Two Rooms, Auckland, 2023) and Subduction and Abduction (Daine Singer, Naarm/Melbourne, 2024). The book intersperses Arbuckle's painted works with a selection of his photographs, collected over the same period. Featuring essays by Melbourne-based curator Emily Cormack and Aotearoa-based writer Lucinda Bennett.

A prolific maker, Arbuckle's practice is a process-driven exploration of place, with landscapes conceptualised through the very act of their making. Favouring process over outcome, Arbuckle employs elements of traditional Japanese shibori dyeing techniques – wrapping, twisting, folding, and draping fabric over found surfaces and structures – to create abstract compositions. The resulting paintings use depth and movement to trace and reveal abstract memories, imprinting the experience of place into the artwork.