CHASON MATTHAMS – ADVANCES, NONE MIRACULOUS
2015-09-07Matthams constructs non-linear narratives by appropriating and making references to numerous art historical and pop culture imagery, mostly found online, where there is no hierarchy between styles, ways of rendering, time periods, or whether the authors are classified as artist, illustrator, designer, or otherwise.
One way to look at this series of paintings, Matthams says about his work, is as a mind going into anxious overdrive trying to construct a narrative out of all the disparate information and random juxtapositions one is confronted with daily. I can’t help but think of the fractured progression of my paintings as the way I experience life itself, open and almost chaotic in the moment but falling into a narrative over time.
Pragmatism is at the basis of the work, Matthams continues, I honestly don’t know if I am considering this right now because David Milch is an admirer of the American philosopher and psychologist William James or because this summer Pixar’s “Inside Out” affected me more than anything else. The movie illustrated the abstract thought section of the brain as a potentially hazardous zone, a place where the characters lose sight of who they are and how they function in day-to-day life. They start interacting with each other and the world not through emotional truths but through ideas and concepts that then become so abstracted it’s impossible for them to function in reality.
Opposite – Large warm playback, 2015
Exhibition runs through to September 13th, 2015
Thierry Goldberg Gallery
103 Norfolk Street
New York
NY
10002
