dayoutlast is a record of my direct engagement with mostly contemporary art, mostly Los Angelean.

As this blog has evolved since its 2010 inception, so has my perspective. What I once perceived as central within the investigation was what was central, literally, within the photographic frame that I shared here. While still an important consideration, such thinking has also given way to more peripheral considerations, ones also accompanied occasionally by text (written manifestation of thought) and the oscillations between them. What's missing here are larger unknowns surrounding issues of presentation and representation; the amount of time and space it actually takes to accomplish such first-hand observations; and the quandaries between documentation and interpretation.

Despite my attempt to communicate here with image and text what is essential in some respect about the artwork, neither representation should ever be considered a substitution for the primary viewing experience. Of course, occasionally there are exceptions.

Most of the time, these posts are merely remnants---residual fragments---from my last day out.

Sunday, August 3, 2014

Matt Paweski Studio

















To wit, I ordered the first few images of wall works from Red, Yellow, to Blue.  Granted, the colors are derivations, and nowhere near out of the "tube," one of things that are nice about these on the surface.  Thinking in terms of pigment, I like the primacy that it suggests.  In terms of light, I like the suggested progression.  As I think more about this, I suddenly realize that all primary and secondary colors of the spectrum are accounted for in this grouping of work save orange.  I suppose there's always a chance that I missed one or that the colors from the ones there pushed toward orange from yellow and red. Whatever the case (and I'm not including images of everything I saw), what is also strong about these is how well they are made (noted in the cuts and joints), and how such slight, crafted gestures open up space for the object and therefore play with the light and color within and around them.  Not just structural, such connections really take on an aesthetic presence.  In terms of an idea, now that I am thinking about, one might say, think about these works first in terms of the wall and material (red, yellow, and blue) and then, secondly (green, violet), in terms of the floor.  So, painting, then sculpture. Perhaps, I'm reaching a bit here...

Works on the floor, well, at least free-standing ones placed on pedestals (pedestals also crafted specifically for each piece), were harder to get a clear, and isolated view within the studio context.  That challenge aside, it was informative to see them in such an environment.  Cf. the green one at the bottom.  It works in interesting ways against the contrasting walls in terms of light, color, texture, and form. Alas, subtleties elude the camera (something I like about artwork in general, and certainly these are good examples). 

To see more images, or better yet to see these works in person,  see here for Matt's upcoming show at Herald St which opens September 5.  In the meantime enjoy what you can from my view, but, more importantly toward the the works in terms of how the studio context can be seen as important to the reception of such detail-oriented work.  I can only imagine that, spread out in the open spaces of a larger gallery setting, that these works will sing.

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