Article on Matt Lippiatt by Jen, published in the Aldershot News and the Farnborough News on friday October 20th 2006

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Expressing yourself artistically is hard for most people - doing so without knowing the colours you were using would seem virtually impossible.

But colourblind Farnborough artist Matt Lippiatt is displaying his work at top London exhibitions just months after earnig a first class fine art degree in the capital.

Mr Lippiatt, 25, rekindled his love of art five years ago after he was put off painting by teachers telling him he was using the wrong colours.

He said: "There are an awful lot of colours that I can't see so I can't paint in realistic colours, unless I look on the tub.

"That has made a lot of difference. I used to love painting but people would say 'that's nice but she's got a green face'. When I looked at them they looked like they were painted in the right colours."

He was working at WH Smith when he took A-level art at an evening class in Fleet, followed by a full-time art course at Basingstoke College of Technology and then his degree at St Martin's College, completed this year.

He now devotes his time to creating sculptures in his garage studio in West Heath Road. His latest project, Attic Basement Garage, is at the Affordable Art Fair in Battersea Park from October 19-22 and the Arts Gallery from November 15 to December 22.

The display is of lifelike sculptures of figures.

Mr Lippiatt said: "The figures' hands and faces are always covered so at first it's hard to tell whether they're sculptures or real people.

"When my degree show opened to the public I saw the reaction first hand. Generally people find it a bit creepy - either that or they laugh."

He sells paintings on Ebay to fund his work but wants to exhibit more in future. For details visit www.mattlippiatt.co.uk.