Matt Connors: Impressionism
October 12—December 31, 2012
MoMA PS1
22-25 Jackson Ave. at the intersection of 46th Ave.
Long Island City, NY 11101
Join us for the Fall Open House
at PS1
Sunday, October 21, 2012
12:00 PM to 6:00 PM
Like many younger painters working with abstraction, Matt Connors (American, b. 1973) engages freely with the histories of his medium without depending upon them. His canvases absorb influences from a disparate and evolving roster of artists, as well as writers, filmmakers and musicians to whom the artist looks for inspiration, and this casual porosity is likewise reflected in the formalities of his method. Connors mostly uses raw canvas, often taking rubbings from his studio floor, pouring layers of paint into the fabric like dye, or using one wet painting to imprint another. His paintings are remarkable for the apparent thinness of their surface; paint ends up in them, rather than on them. As such, Connors’ works act as both pictures and objects, registering the surfaces behind or beneath them, as well as those before them—including other paintings and things close at hand in his studio. His paintings inhabit a space in between, taking and offering impressions of their immediate surroundings in time and space, and those more distant. Impressionism is the artist’s first solo museum presentation in the United States, and features a focused selection of extant pieces alongside new work made specifically for the exhibition.
Matt Connors: Sandpaper Sleeve at Cherry and Martin, Los Angeles is on view through October 27, 2012.
Organized by Peter Eleey, Curator, MoMA PS1.
The exhibition is made possible by the MoMA PS1 Annual Exhibition Fund.
A new publication by Matt Connors titled A Bell is a Cup will be published by Rainoff and launched to coincide with the exhibition. The publication includes texts by Peter Eleey, Michel Leiris, Jack Spicer and Gertrude Stein.
