Wednesday, August 31, 2011

Matt Irie Featured in The Week

Matt Irie’s exhibition, “You Are the Vanishing Point," was highlighted in the September 2 issue of The Week. The author praises Matt’s work in "Where to Buy: a Select Exhibition in a private gallery” by describing it in the following way:

      

          Don't expect to find your bearings in Matt Irie's densely
          layered paintings. The Chicago artist's latest series,
          "You Are the Vanishing Point," channels the
          disorienting energy of M.C. Escher's physics-defying
           spatial constructions into square and nearly square
           abstract paintings that shimmer, advance, and recede
           without any apparent rhyme or reason. Unlike oil
           on canvas or watercolor on paper, Irie's preferred
           medium--acrylic latex on rigid panel--offers little room
           for creating the illusion of depth through loose gesture.
           His optical trickery, in other words, must be that much
           more crafty and precise. At Ebersmoore Gallery, 213 N.
           Morgan St. Chicago. (28)

The print version of The Week may be found at the MCC Library. Congratulations, Matt!

"Where to Buy: a Select Exhibition in a private gallery." The Week      
       2 Sept. 2011: 28. Print.



Monday, August 1, 2011

Matt Irie: You are the Vanishing Point

Congratulations to Matt Irie on his upcoming solo exhibition ‘You are the Vanishing Point’ at EBERSMOORE!

August 5 - September 3, 2011
Opening Reception: Friday, August 5 6-9pm

EBERSMOORE
213 N. Morgan, #3C
Chicago Il, 60607

Dripping paint in every direction, Matt Irie's densely constructed paintings in 'You Are the Vanishing Point' occupy a disorienting space between traditions of geometric painting and surreal installation. The illusion of conflicting gravity created by Irie's craft, in which marks are made by the application of individual and multi-directional paint drips, presents each narrative according to optical effect. Where the grid is employed one way, nests of marks accelerate the eye into depths of overlapping lines, but when the paintings flatten, the history of Irie's engagement with fleeting surrealism is on physical display. Flickering between illusions of deep vertigo and telling phenomena of construction, the paintings in 'You Are the Vanishing Point' function as historical palindromes, working in both directions to engage their viewer as something more than real.