Mathew Sumich passed away in late 2012. His work is available through Judith Sumich or the Michael H. Lord Gallery, Palm Springs, CA. The following statement is in his own words
The focus of my work - whether non-commissioned or commissioned - is to work with basic elements such as line, form, color, texture, etc., and to apply them to the principles of design, e.g., dealing with proportion, subordination, rhythm, balance, opposition, transition, harmony and contour continuation, and to deal with different media, e.g., steel, glass, paint, wood, cement, etc., and to find potential uses of the media, taking into consideration its use in the environment in which it is to be located.
My interests have always been with line and plane � the first elements of drawing. Line creates plane, plane creates depth, plane can advance or recede by the use of color. My art is fundamental, basic, simple design principles in action. Using structural design principles and having a good understanding of the environment, I am able to take any media � steel, glass, wood, clay, canvas � and create 2-dimensional, 3-dimensional, or 4 dimensional adding the dimension of time objects. The final form, be it a painting, jewelry, sculpture, mobile or other object is a total composite of these basic and fundamental principles of design. I challenge myself by setting up limitations � size, environment, media, etc � my goal being to take the particular limitations to their maximum and create as many possibilities discoveries from those limitations as I can conceive.
I take into consideration the site I have to work with, and look at the elements of nature which are particular to that site, such as the wind, sun, terrain, buildings, etc., in order to determine what kind of object will withstand the environment of that site. When I work on something in an environment in which the piece can deteriorate, it is completely different, e,g., indoors � like dealing with small sculptures or paintings. In these cases, I look at the lighting, space, and other aspects of the interior environment. Then I deal with the size and surface of a the painting, or the dimensions and placement of the sculpture, if it is a commissioned piece. A non commissioned piece is based on expressing a message I want to convey � in particular, that which preserves the environment and its surrounding.
Through color, I depict aspects of nature which are connected - � sun, sea, sand and surf. I do not feel a need to paint a specific representation of those, rather I let the color carry the message or visual image because they are of the same color, e.g., sunyellow, seablue, etc. I can also use the force of colors � e.g., white as purity, red as danger, yellow as warmth, and green as growth � to deepen a message. I use �line� in the same way. Horizontal lines are restful, vertical lines have strength, and diagonal lines have power. A photograph is more accurate and faster than a painting. In my newer work, I prefer to paint in the abstract, using a combination of color and photography to depict a mood or message. Earlier work did not include this photographic element.
Another primary interest has been with time and motion. A segment of work, for example, is to exploit movement and its relationship to time. This exploitation has taken the form of �movable� or interactive sculpture � pieces that the viewer can pick up and move, thus changing the appearance of the overall work, and creating an interaction with the viewer through their own movement and capturing a lapse of time in that activity.
Mr. Sumichs art is shown on this site. His work spanned a lifetime of design - including landscape and environmental site planning. Please use the email contact to inquire about his contributions to Mid-Century Modernism in Palm Springs.
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