{"id":2914,"date":"2021-04-14T06:46:31","date_gmt":"2021-04-14T06:46:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/uberlin.co.uk\/portrait-matthew-gordon-taiko-gallery-uberlinuberlin\/"},"modified":"2021-04-14T06:46:31","modified_gmt":"2021-04-14T06:46:31","slug":"portrait-matthew-gordon-taiko-gallery-uberlinuberlin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/uberlin.co.uk\/portrait-matthew-gordon-taiko-gallery-uberlinuberlin\/","title":{"rendered":"Portrait: Matthew Gordon, Taiko Gallery : \u00fcberlin\u00fcberlin"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Portrait: Matthew Gordon, Taiko Gallery<\/h3>\n

by James Glazebrook<\/span><\/h4>\n
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\"Matthew<\/p>\n

Meet Matthew Gordon<\/a>, the co-owner of Taiko Gallery, a new tattoo studio and art space on Sch\u00f6nleinstrasse in our beloved Graefekiez.<\/em><\/p>\n

Originally from Sydney, Matthew first landed in Berlin two years ago, after travelling to Europe with his Taiko partner Wendy Pham. They visited fellow tattoo artist Uncle Allan<\/a> <\/b>in Denmark, who mentioned plans to open a German outpost, and invited the Aussies to join him. Already half a world away from home, they were unphased by the last leg of a journey to a city they\u2019d never even planned to visit. As Matthew says of his fellow countrymen, \u201cwe\u2019re all crazy anyway!\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Matthew<\/a><\/p>\n

Moving to Berlin was just the latest in a series of risky but rewarding moves for the young artist. At 19, he quit a promising career as a 3D animator, designing levels for video games and fly-throughs of skyscrapers in Dubai, and persuaded the guy who had started covering his body with ink to train him as an apprentice. Then Gordon cut his apprenticeship short to move to Melbourne, where he opened up a private studio with Wendy.<\/p>\n

Inspired by Grime<\/a> of San Francisco\u2019s Skull and Sword, Shige<\/a> of Yellow Blaze in Yokohama and local hero\u00a0Owen Williams<\/a> of TAMA, Matthew started carving out a niche in the tattoo world: \u201cI don\u2019t look at any other work or references. I draw from my head, and if it\u2019s wrong, it\u2019s wrong. It\u2019s the only way to give yourself a style\u201d. That style, which Matthew calls \u201copen illustrated Japanese\u201d, renders Eastern-inspired imagery in vibrant colour and (not surprisingly) perfect 3D, with dragons and snakes covered in intricate, interlocked scales that pulsate from the subject\u2019s skin. He conservatively estimates that his forthcoming art book contains over 5,000 hand-drawn scales.<\/p>\n

\"Matthew<\/p>\n

The desire to be different that informs Matthew\u2019s work is also shaping the shopfront that he single-handedly renovated from a water-damaged, nicotine-stained Fahrschule <\/i>into a beautiful, white-walled, multidisciplinary space. \u201cWe\u2019re trying to create something different, that\u2019s not just a little hole-in-the-wall studio,\u201d Matthew explains. Taiko Gallery<\/a> \u00a0is \u201cmore about the art, and less about making a million dollars,\u201d serving as an exhibition space for the founders\u2019 paintings, and a venue for life drawing classes and other creative events. Above all, it is \u201ca positive place\u201d.<\/p>\n

\"Matthew<\/a><\/p>\n

Unfortunately, not everyone is pleased about the latest development of this small Kreuzberg side-street, where old school Berliner haunts like the 24-hour bar Bei Schlawinchen rub up against the internationally-owned curiosity shop The Cheese Mountain Tragedy<\/a>.\u00a0<\/b>The subject of thoughtless protests against the perceived gentrification of long-gentrified Graefekiez<\/a>, Matthew finds himself cleaning spit off the gallery\u2019s window almost every day.<\/p>\n

But far from feeling threatened by such low-level hostility – \u201cI\u2019ve got a scythe in the back; I\u2019d like to see them try\u201d – he has been surprised by the extent to which foreigners are tolerated, if not always embraced, in Berlin. \u201cMost of my time is spent in my own little bubble. I feel like an alien sometimes, but that\u2019s OK. I\u2019m in my own little world, no one really pays attention to me, and that\u2019s fine.”<\/p>\n

\"Matthew<\/a><\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s definitely opened my eyes to the way that Australians deal with foreigners. If you go to Australia, and you have trouble speaking English, it\u2019s horrible for you. People are abused to their face, and it\u2019s just shit. If I ever go back and see that, those racists are getting told to shut the fuck up.\u201d<\/p>\n

Provincial attitudes aside, Matthew is optimistic about the future of Taiko Gallery and his adopted home: \u201cEven in the two years I\u2019ve been here, I\u2019ve noticed more art going on and I\u2019ve met lots of interesting people. Berlin is a great city. It\u2019s a good place to have a new thing, one that doesn\u2019t really exist yet. In five years, you\u2019ll have built a reputation, with expats and Germans alike.\u201d Put simply: \u201cBeing able to see Berlin grow is cool.\u201d<\/p>\n

Matthew’s book of snake illustrations, the\u00a0<\/em>Compendium Vipera, is now available via Illustrated Monthly<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

\"Taiko<\/p>\n

\"Taiko<\/p>\n

\"Tattoo<\/p>\n

\"Matthew<\/p>\n

\"Matthew<\/p>\n

\"Matthew<\/p>\n

\"Matthew<\/p>\n

\"Matthew<\/p>\n

\"Matthew<\/p>\n

\"Matthew<\/p>\n

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