Gallery Videographer: Stephen Mathewson’s Fascinating “My Heart Spins on the Grill” at Fishmarket Gallery
In 2010, I travelled to Northampton to film American artist Stephen Mathewson’s first solo UK exhibition, My Heart Spins on the Grill, at the Fishmarket Gallery.
As a gallery videographer, this project was a turning point for me. It was the first time I used my new Sony Z5, and it allowed me to experiment with a more responsive, observational approach to filming an artist at work and in dialogue with his own creations.
The Fishmarket’s vast, raw space gave Stephen Mathewson’s work a fitting home. As he put it in the film:
“This place has big walls. It’s a special chance to see the big works in one big space. And it turns out they’re pretty small… but they work.”
A Playful, Surreal Exhibition
Stephen’s show was like stepping into a living narrative. His paintings, unstretched and unprimed, hung like relics rather than traditional gallery pieces. The works combined text, 1950s abstraction, and fragments of filmic storytelling, populated by strange recurring characters: Charles, who discovers his father’s murder while walking on Miami Beach, and Cat Fischermann, a fictional stand-up comedian rooted in a bygone New York jazz-club world.
The exhibition wasn’t just a display of art. It was a cinematic, episodic world. As Stephen explained:
“All the work is coming from one story… I wanted to make this big story-related art because otherwise, you just end up with stacks and stacks of random images.”
Filming with the Sony Z5
Filming this exhibition was the first time I worked with the Sony Z5, and it felt like the right tool for the job. Its balance of professional control and portability meant I could move freely through the gallery, capturing Stephen’s gestures, his laughter, and the casual brilliance of his explanations.
As a gallery videographer, I try to let the artist lead the rhythm of a film. With Stephen, that meant long, unhurried takes and handheld shooting that embraced the energy of the gallery space. Nothing was staged. It was about trust between artist, camera, and the raw, evolving story.
The Magic Flute
One of the highlights of the film is Stephen’s story about “The Magic Flute,” a sculpture born from leftover packaging materials: a cardboard tube and a plastic tube, painted gold.
“It’s about using everything you have to make something new,” Stephen said. “Originally I just wanted to have a card on the wall—Magic Flute. No flute, just a card. But this one turns into the magical 20 billion pound flute… it’s the most incredible flute in the world… beyond magic.”
For me, this moment perfectly captures Stephen’s playful, improvisational approach. As a gallery videographer, these are the moments I live for. Art becomes both serious and absurd, and the camera has the privilege of holding it.
A Raw and Honest Portrait
The film doesn’t attempt to explain every element of Stephen’s work. Instead, it reflects the unpolished vitality of both the exhibition and the Fishmarket itself. From stacks of televisions painted into surreal monuments to narratives that blur fact and fiction, Stephen’s show was about reimagining what painting could be in a space that felt closer to a studio than a white-walled gallery.
Why This Film Matters
My Heart Spins on the Grill was more than a document of an exhibition. It was an early milestone in my practice as a gallery videographer. It taught me how to let an artist’s language shape the film, how to listen closely to their logic, and how to create a portrait that feels as experimental as the work it captures.
If you’d like to see more of my films about artists and their creative worlds, you can explore them here:
👉 alanfentiman.co.uk/vimeo-videos/artist-films/