Known by his moniker Matthew the Horse, poet, and illustrator Matthew Hodson finds beauty in the smallest of gestures. Mixing together fragments of drawings with scraps of thoughts, his artwork (without being pretentious or mushy) manages to pull at our heartstrings.
Working from his home studio in Leeds, he says that he enjoys his work most when he manages to achieve a creative flow. “It’s hard-fought,” he admitted in an interview with Lecture in Progress, “and something I want to explore further but when it occurs it’s really enjoyable. I’m not a naturally gifted draftsperson, I draw like a pissed robot most of the time, but there’s always intent in my hand where I’m trying to find that correct balance between control and wobble.”
Most days, his time is filled to the brim with work (rather than play). Working as a lecturer in illustration at Leeds Arts University, and commissioned by clients like The Guardian, New York Times, and Converse, Hodson says that it’s a struggle for him to find time for his more creative projects – a problem many creatives face.
“I get stressed out all the time by fear, guilt, and frustration that I should be doing more, making better, pushing further,” he says. “But I think I can combat this by looking at my own drawings more than my phone and spending more time thinking about nothing.”
Scroll down to see some of his work:
