Bob Matthews acted as co-curator of the international traveling exhibition ‘A Sort of Night to the Mind, A Kind of Night for Our Thoughts: Illusion and Materiality in Contemporary Painting’. His role included selecting the artworks, securing the touring venues, and designing and editing the exhibition catalogue, including commissioning and translating texts by Moyra Derby, Beth Harland and Ian Hunt. The project emerged from specific interests concerning the ‘materiality’ of painting; formative research identified broad and contrasting approaches to surface application, media, materials and process.