NEW YORK, NY – Chelsea’s Agora Gallery will feature the original work of Ian A. Matthews in Spatial Fluidity. The exhibition opens April 1, 2017 and runs through April 21, 2017 with an opening reception on Thursday, April 6 from 6-8 pm.
Ian A. Matthews is a singular contemporary artist who creates three-dimensional works using light, canvas, and paint. He pokes holes or tears raw canvas into strips, some large and rolling and others delicate, and weaves them onto angled wooden frames that he designs himself for each piece. He then applies paint to these textured canvas sculptures. The works roughly adhere to the vertical plane standard of painting, but they reach into the viewer's space in subtly probing ways. To these traditional painting materials Matthews also adds different lighting effects, including neon, LED backlighting, and electro-luminescent light cords.
Matthews' artistic practice is an exploration of the transcendence of light as it progresses through the day. "We each see natural light transcendence each day," says the artist. He works this into his creations, which are colorful paintings during the day, but when the lights are activated in the early evening, the works begin to glow. At night, the lights take hold, the painted surface diminishes to darkness, taking the painting into full transcendence and altering the energy of the room.
Matthews was born in Vancouver, Canada and today lives in Ottawa. He is currently practicing his art while studying Fine Arts at the University of Ottawa.
Exhibition Dates: April 1, 2017 – April 21, 2017
Reception: Thursday, April 6, 6:00pm - 8:00pm
Gallery Hours: Tues-Sat 11:00am – 6:00pm
Gallery Location: 530 West 25th St, Chelsea, New York
Event URL: http://www.agora-gallery.com/artistpage/Ian_A._Matthews.aspx
Featured Artists:
Spatial Fluidity
Sheree Friedman | Erin Cooke | Pedro Alberti | Nello Petrucci | Isabelita | Annika Carlsson | GIDJA | Ian A. Matthews | Birsen Yurdaer
About the Exhibition
Spatial Fluidity: Interacting With Art
Some of the most innovative artists working outside the picture place will come together this April at Agora Gallery in Spatial Fluidity, a new collective exhibition. A celebration of three-dimensionality in all its forms, Spatial Fluidity interrogates how a piece of art should exist in the world. Is it purely a visual entity? Does it enter the viewer's space? Is it static or does it change as the viewer moves?
The exhibition includes nine artists. There is a wide range of mixed-media work, ranging from pieces that are subtly textured to canvases that forcefully protrude and recede into so-called "real" space. There are collages that intermingle newspaper clippings and photographs, or defy expectations by coating everything in a reflective glaze. There are also single-media paintings that emphasize the physical aspects of their material, such as the plastic quality of acrylic. Much of the art is abstract, so that the viewer may focus on broader visual sensations rather than put together three-dimensionality with a representational narrative.
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