Gonzalez CV + Statement 2018 No Dates
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Matt Gonzalez Derivations in Color Dolby Chadwick Gallery is proud to present Matt Gonzalez’s new show Derivations in Color. Gonzalez’s collages are meditations on the nature of equilibrium. They create a balance between the ‘feeling and the syntax of things’ (to quote E.E.Cummings), between our sensuous, emotive experience of the world and the rational interpretation of it. Geometrical lines and figures form highly structured compositions that are so complex and self-contained that they look like living systems. But each of them is also suffused with a sumptuous color that exudes a nearly religious depth and simplicity. Balancing the two, Gonzalez creates an aesthetic equilibrium from which a subtle glow seems to emanate—like bioluminescence from a still, silent sea. Gonzalez composes his collages from discarded pieces of paper and packaging, which he finds on his walks through the city. “Every one of the scraps,” he says, “has its own unique character, not just through its original function and use, but also through the distress of time and erosion.” And it’s not just the physical properties that interest Gonzalez. Each of these castaway scraps, he explains, is part of a story that gets woven into the unknown subtext of the collage. “I like the notion of repurposing or transplanting a carton that used to carry cigarettes or soda into a work of art. It’s a reminder of what is possible: second chances, a degree of redemption.” The different lines and shapes that emerge from collaging the trimmed materials fall into structured landscapes that the viewer may spontaneously try to translate into familiar figures, say the outline of a cityscape, circuit board, or labyrinth. But as soon as we think we have identified a recognizable pattern, it vanishes, morphs into some other idea of order, which in turn will dissolve and change anew. Gonzalez’s collages are kaleidoscopes of the mind. This motion of geometrical motifs forms the dynamic framework for the collages’ distinctive colors. On first sight, a collage may appear monochromatic: red, blue, silver, black or gold; but, as Gonzalez explains, each is composed of dozens if not hundreds of subtly varied hues, painstakingly sorted, selected and collaged in a process that is often laborious, yet essential to making the interplay of tone against tone so effective. Whether opulent, mysterious or delicate, the colors in Gonzalez’s work are always rich and deeply satisfying. For Gonzalez, equilibrium is more than a skillful distribution of visual weights, a balance among structural elements and colors. He calls his art non-objective rather than abstract because his collages are not abstractions of anything; they don’t seek to represent or even reference any particular object but to create compositions all their own. To achieve equilibrium hence means attaining a reality in which opposing forces are harmonized—arguably a state each of us endeavors to accomplish in our own lives. 210 POST STREET, SUITE 205. SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94108 | 415.956.3560 | WWW.DOLBYCHADWICKGALLERY.COM Matt Gonzalez was born in South Texas. He studied at Columbia University and Stanford Law School. He came in touch with abstract art for the first time when he moved to New York. His artistic outlook is influenced by Dada, in particular Kurt Schwitters, and the Situationists. Since 2006 he has exhibited artworks in a variety of Bay Area art venues. This is his second solo exhibition with Dolby Chadwick Gallery since 2014. The title Derivations in Color refers to both “root” and “source” as well as Guy Debord’s concept of dérive (often translated as drift): an experiment to intentionally rediscover our environment by inserting an element of unpredictability into our everyday routine, e.g. follow a red car. 210 POST STREET, SUITE 205. SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94108 | 415.956.3560 | WWW.DOLBYCHADWICKGALLERY.COM Matt Gonzalez EDUCATION 1990 JD Stanford Law School, Palo Alto, CA 1987 BA Columbia University, New York City, NY SOLO EXHIBITIONS 2018 Dolby Chadwick Gallery, Derivations in Color, San Francisco, CA 2015 Dolby Chadwick Gallery, Dérive: Situationist Encounter in San Francisco, San Francisco, CA 2013 Park Life, Things I Didn’t Know I Loved, San Francisco, CA 2009 Lola, Mixed Media Collage, Berkeley, CA The Breakfast Group, For Every Passer-by, Berkeley, CA 2008 In vitro Gallery, I Put It Back In Order For You, Chicago, IL Soap Gallery, Pull Here to Get Everything You Want, San Francisco, CA 2007 Adobe Books Backroom Gallery, Let Her Make A Speech for Me, San Francisco, CA GROUP EXHIBITIONS 2018 Sebastopol Center for the Arts, Reverberations: A Visual Conversation, Sebastopol, CA Swim Gallery, The House Plant Show, San Francisco, CA 111 Minna Gallery, Geeks, Freaks & Strange Art, San Francisco, CA 2017 Dolby Chadwick Gallery, Artist as Subject: 20th Anniversary Celebration, San Francisco, CA Connect Gallery, Post 11/9 The New Now [Now], Chicago, IL Gallery Rocking Horse, North Beach and Beyond, San Francisco, CA Museum of Friends, Mini’s, Walsenberg, CO (3-person show with Maria Cocciarelli & Harry Tuschidana) 2016 CES Contemporary, Fog A Mirror, Los Angeles, CA FIFTY24SF Gallery, Swimmin’ In The Playground, San Francisco, CA Luggage Store Gallery, Welcome to the Left Coast, San Francisco, CA Katz Snyder Gallery of the Jewish Community Center, ¡Que Rico, Que Bueno!, San Francisco, CA 2015 Dolby Chadwick Gallery, Lightning Strikes: 18 poets. 18 artists., San Francisco, CA Guerrero Gallery, Gatherings and Conversations, San Francisco, CA L.Quan Healing Arts Centre, Barry McGee installation, San Francisco, CA Fecal Face Dot Gallery, Festivus: A Holiday Show for the Rest of Us, San Francisco, CA Incline Gallery, 5 Year Anniversary Show, San Francisco. CA Palo Alto Art Center, Front Yard/Backstreet, Palo Alto, CA Joshua Liner Gallery, That’s My Trip, New York City, NY 2014 Oakland Museum of California, Fertile Ground: Art & Community in California, Oakland, CA Guerrero Gallery, All Of Us Together, San Francisco, CA CES Contemporary, Graphic Thoughts, Los Angeles, CA Incline Gallery, San Francisco, CA Fecal Face Dot Gallery, Salt The Skies, San Francisco, CA 2013 Meridian Gallery, Regarding Configurations, San Francisco, CA (two-person show with Dennis Parlante) Smith Andersen Editions, The Hogarth Project, Palo Alto, CA a.Muse Gallery, Lux and Textura: Explorations Beyond the Surface, San Francisco Incline Gallery, 3 Year Anniversary Salon Show, San Francisco a.Muse Gallery, Fictions: The Worlds Writers & Artists Create, San Francisco 210 POST STREET, SUITE 205. SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94108 | 415.956.3560 | WWW.DOLBYCHADWICKGALLERY.COM 2012 Guerrero Gallery, December Group Show, San Francisco, CA Fecal Face Dot Gallery, Winter Group Show, San Francisco, CA The Graduate Theological Union, UC Berkeley, Art For Change, Berkeley, CA 2011 B. Sakata Garo, Codices Urbanos, Sacramento, CA (two-person show with Gustavo Ramos Rivera) a.Muse Gallery, Scissors vs. Brush, San Francisco, CA (two-person show with Tom Schultz) Jack Fischer Gallery, The Collage Show, San Francisco, CA Luggage Store Gallery, In The Moment, San Francisco, CA Guerrero Gallery, Building Context, San Francisco, CA Bryant Street Gallery, Paper, Scissors, Glue / Bay Area Collage, Palo Alto, CA George Krevsky Gallery, The Fine Art of Baseball, San Francisco, CA 2010 Triple Base Gallery, Out of the Flat Files, San Francisco, CA Smith Andersen Editions, Five From Folsom Street, Palo Alto, CA Suite Five Salon, New Works, San Francisco, CA (two-person show with Ben Irvine) 2009 111 Minna Gallery, The Novemberists, San Francisco, CA Market Street Gallery, Skate This Art, San Francisco, CA 2008 Gallery Extraña, Defiant Optimism, Berkeley, CA Johansson Projects, Crossing the Delaware, Oakland, CA Art House, Before My Rushing Heart, McAllen, TX 2007 The Hive Art Salon, New Works, San Francisco, CA Hayes Valley Art Market, Flood, San Francisco, CA Live Worms, Eight at the Gate, San Francisco, CA Lincart Gallery, Walking in the Street, San Francisco, CA (two-person show with Omar Chacon) 2006 a.Muse Gallery, Waxwing & Kite, San Francisco, CA (two-person show with Felix Macnee) SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY 2016 Davis, Genie, “CES Gallery: San Francisco Unbound”, Art and Cake, October 3, 2016. Seed, John, “‘Lightning Strikes: 18 Poets. 18 Artists.’ at Dolby Chadwick Gallery, San Francisco,: Huffington Post, January 21, 2016 2015 Couzens, Julia, “Lightning Strikes @ Dolby Chadwick”, Square Cylinder, December 29, 2015 Kordic, Angie, “Lightning Strikes Group Exhibition at Dolby Chadwick Gallery : 18 poets. 18 artists. Take San Francisco”, Wide Walls, November 28, 2015 Nataraj, Nirmala, “Matt Gonzalez’s ‘Dérive: Situationist Encounter in San Francisco'”, San Francisco Chronicle, March 4, 2015 2014 Dalkey, Victoria, “2 Bay Area museums team up to celebrate California’s artistry”, Sacramento Bee, October 30, 2014 B.K., Ana, ““Graphic Thoughts” at CES Contemporary, Los Angeles”, Widewalls, August 8, 2014 2013 Noonan, Erik, “A Defiant Beauty: Matt Gonzalez’ Recent Work”, A Guy Should Know, September 28, 2013 Held Jr., John, “Matt Gonzalez’s “Things I Didn’t Know I Loved” at Park Life, San Francisco”, San Francisco Art Quarterly, July 16, 2013 Torres, Anthony, “Matt Gonzalez @ Park Life Gallery”, Cultural Interventions, July 16, 2013 Bamberger, Alan, “Park Life: Matt Gonzalez -- Things I Didn’t Know I Loved”, Art Business, July 28, 2013 Arnold, Kathryn, “Matt Gonzalez at Meridian Gallery, San Francisco”, NY ARTS Magazine, March 15, 2013 2011 Baker, Kenneth, “Collage, culture and mulching at Guerrero