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. , CA 94108 | 415.956.3560 | WWW.DOLBYCHADWICKGALLERY.COM Matt Gonzalez was born in South . He studied at and . 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 , 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 Gallery”, San Francisco Chronicle, August 27, 2011 Chun, Kimberley, “‘Scissors vs. Brush’: Matt Gonzalez, Tom Schultz”, San Francisco Chronicle, April 28, 2011 2010 Occam, Paul, “Matt Gonzalez at Triple Base Gallery”, Mission Loc@l, December 26, 2010 2008 Torres, Anthony, “Matt Gonzalez @ In vitro Gallery”, Whitehot Magazine of Contemporary Art, October 2008

210 POST STREET, SUITE 205. SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94108 | 415.956.3560 | WWW.DOLBYCHADWICKGALLERY.COM Nicholaou, Libby, “Soap Gallery: Matt Gonzalez -- Pull Here To Get Everything You Want”, Libby’s Niche: Reviews, April 5, 2008 Leaverton, Michael, “Pull My (Trigger) Finger”, San Francisco Weekly, April 2, 2008 Fernández Valverde, Hilda, “Monta activista de EU exposición en Coahuila”, El Universal, Mexico City, October 7, 2008 Lopez Herrera, Sigifredo, “Colectiva de collages de San Francisco, California”, El Diario de Coahuila, Mexico, October 9, 2008 Moyer, Nancy, “Before My Rushing Heart”, The McAllen Monitor, March 7, 2008 2007 Jancar, Ava, “Review: Let Her Make a Speech for Me”, San Francisco Bay Guardian, November 21, 2007 Van Proyen, Mark, “Matt Gonzalez at LINCART”, ART LTD / WEST COAST ART + DESIGN, July 2007 Swanhuyser, Hiya, “Welcome, Matt”, San Francisco Weekly, April 16, 2007

LECTURES & PANELS 2016 “Discussion Panel: Mace of Disruption — A Perspective on American Safety”, at The Growlery, San Francisco. A discussion around the provocative public sculpture installation consisting of 44 spiked bats that occurred on Thanksgiving 2015 in San Francisco. Matt Gonzalez, John Zarobell, Dan Lawson, & Matthew Bajda, in conversation, moderated by Denah Johnston, June 1, 2016 2015 In conversation: Cate White & Matt Gonzalez in conjunction with White’s show “Both on Earth” at The Luggage Store Gallery, San Francisco (Headlands Center for the Arts Tournesol Award Exhibition 2015), October 28, 2015 Talk Art: Andrew Schoultz in conversation with Matt Gonzalez, at The Battery, San Francisco, June 24, 2015 Artist Clare Rojas & SFMOMA curator Janet Bishop in conversation at the Luggage Store Gallery’s temporary Market Street location in conjunction with rooftop viewing of Rojas’s mural “Promise, 2014” Introductory remarks by San Francisco’s Director of Cultural Affairs Tom DeCaigny, Frances Phillips from the Creative Work Fund, Luggage Store board member Matt Gonzalez, and Luggage Store Co-founders Laurie Lazer and Darryl Smith, March 25, 2015 Artist Talk by Ann Weber & Matt Gonzalez in conjunction with their shows at Dolby Chadwick Gallery, San Francisco, March 7, 2015 2014 Artist Talk by Gideon Chase, Evan Holm, & Matt Gonzalez in conjunction with their show Greatest Hits: Volume I at Incline Gallery, San Francisco, CA. May 16, 2014 2013 In conversation: John Halle, music composer & pianist and Matt Gonzalez, collage artist, on i ntersections, asymmetries and inevitable collisions resulting from attempts to combine the arts and politics, Berkeley Arts Festival, December 29, 2013 Talking Art: Snipping, Clipping, Pasting. Conversation with artists who use a variety of collage techniques in photomontage, printmaking, three-dimensional forms, and video art. Artist Panel: Val Britton, Matt Gonzalez, Robynn Smith, and Vanessa Wood. San Jose Institute of Contemporary Art, April 24, 2013 Panel Discussion coinciding with Travis Somerville’s solo exhibition A Great Cloud of Witnesses, moderated by Diana Daniels, Associate Curator, Contemporary Art at the Crocker Art Museum. Panelists include Travis Somerville, Matt Gonzalez, Chris Johnson, and Jeff Dauber. Catharine Clark Gallery, San Francisco, March 2, 2013 Dennis Parlante & Matt Gonzalez in Conversation in conjunction with their opening “Regarding Configurations”. Discussing the practice, theory, concept, history, and materials of collage in a casual conversation. Meridian Gallery, San Francisco, January 17, 2013 Andrew Schoultz interviewed by Matt Gonzalez in conjunction with Schoultz’s opening “Fall Out” at Mark Moore Gallery, Los Angeles, January 12, 2013 2012 Lecture by Matt Gonzalez coinciding with the opening of “Art For Change”, Graduate Theological Union Library, curated by Nicholas Ukrainiec and made possible by the Jane Dillenberger Fine Arts Endowment Fund. The exhibition features prints, paintings, posters, and

210 POST STREET, SUITE 205. SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94108 | 415.956.3560 | WWW.DOLBYCHADWICKGALLERY.COM mixed media created to inspire or promote social, political, and economic change. Selections from the social justice collections of the GTU Archives are shown together with works by Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Shephard Fairey, Matt Gonzalez, Joel Isaacson, Richard Kamler, Corita Kent, Earl Newman, Rigo, Lizabeth Eva Rossof, Favianna Rodriguez and others. The Graduate Theological Union, UC Berkeley, March 15, 2012 2011 “Kurt Schwitters: Make Art with Matt Gonzalez” in conjunction with the exhibition “Kurt Schwitters: Color and Collage”. Event includes an informal talk by Gonzalez in the exhibition galleries about some of his favorite Schwitters pieces. UC Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archive, August 14, 2011 A panel on “Collecting Art, Curating Your Collection” with Whitney Chadwick PhD, Charles Campbell, Matt Gonzalez and Jeremy Stone at the West Coast Art Collectors Conference at the San Francisco Fine Art Fair, Festival Pavilion, Fort Mason Center, May 20, 2011 2009 “Rendering the Male Nude: Tradition or Provocation?” in conjunction with the exhibit “Theophilus Brown: Five Decades of Rendering the Male Nude” at the McAllen Art House. Theophilus Brown in conversation with Dr. Esteban Ortega Brown and Anthony Torres. Introductory remarks by Matt Gonzalez and María Elena Macías, Assistant Professor of Art, UTPA. Fine Arts Auditorium, University of Texas-Pan American, Edinburg, Texas, April 30, 2009 2008 Catharine Clark & Matt Gonzalez interview, Frank Prattle with Zefrey Throwell radio. Interview at the SF Arts Commission Gallery March 1, 2008 (aired April 4, 2008) 2007 Institute of Contemporary Art, London. “Figures of Speech USA”, a program inviting presentations on an object having personal significance by artist and gallerist Aaron Rose, media- art pioneer Lynn Hershman Leeson, SF Chronicle art critic Kenneth Baker, NY magazine mogul Jack Rabid, surf entrepreneur Keir J Beadling and artist/politician Matt Gonzalez. October 2007 Amy Franceschini & Matt Gonzalez in conversation in conjunction with Franceschini’s SECA exhibition. San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Phyllis Wattis Theater, February 15, 2007 2004 “Art & Politics”, undergraduate course taught by guest lecturer Matt Gonzalez at the San Francisco Art Institute, 2004

COLLECTIONS SFMoma, San Francisco, CA Achenbach, San Francisco CA Nordstrom, Inc., Seattle, WA Charles Schwab & Co., Inc., San Francisco, CA

210 POST STREET, SUITE 205. SAN FRANCISCO, CA 94108 | 415.956.3560 | WWW.DOLBYCHADWICKGALLERY.COM