MZ_Consistency

Mathew Zefeldt

 

Opening on June 6th is “What Are I?” a solo exhibition by Mathew Zefeldt, curated by Svea Lin Soll from SWARM Gallery.  “80 Milliseconds in the Past,” a project by Chris Pew, will also be on view.  SWARM Gallery will be closing their doors very soon, and Svea is now transferring her curatorial skills to Hatch Gallery in Oakland.  Hatch Gallery is owned by Adam Hatch who is also involved with various projects in the Bay Area and it seems that Hatch is inviting guest curators to keep the gallery’s programming active.  Hatch Gallery recently exhibited “THINKING LIKE THE UNIVERSE” curated by Aimee Friberg, which was a huge success with both the public programming and artworks on view.  The efforts of Svea Lin Soll look to be very promising and “What Are I?” is the first exhibition to show the possibilities of this new partnership.

 

 

CP_Moldable_Epoch

Chris Pew

 

Exploring, skewing, and stretching the material possibilities of paint while questioning methods of image making and their related histories, Mathew Zefeldt’s paintings and sculptures act as self-reflexive still-life arrangements that give one access to a seemingly fictional world. Entities ranging from studio detritus to multiplied classical statue heads are represented in recurrent form, situated atop shelves or upon wooden tables. Unabashedly textured and saturated in color, many of Zefeldt’s objects are comically impasto, comprised from whole ropes of squeezed paint. Background images appear to emulate the monotony of checkers or a stream of haywire television frequencies. Just as Zefeldt’s painterly technique directly references it’s own materiality, the repetition of his subjects call to mind the ways in which images are commonly produced, appropriated and reproduced through analog and digital media.

 

Merging the dynamic, and often polar worlds of science and art, Oakland artist Chris Pew explores ideas of abstract cosmos and different trajectories for the unobservable universe. His work revolves around interpretations of scientific theories and his interest in their hypothetical conditions. With the idea that life is lived 80 milliseconds in the past, Pew presents black and white abstract compositions of pixelated geometric designs and ballooning curves that at once suggest and deny figuration. Visually recalling glitches associated with malfunctioning technology, these works expose the hidden boundaries inherent to all media and exist in a state of beautifully ambiguous meaning.

 

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