On view March 24 – April 5, 2014
EBK Gallery [small works].
218 Pearl St.
Hartford, CT
“I’ve always experienced the world as a tidal wave of sensory information; the five senses competing constantly for my attention. This series of paintings uses the vocabulary of painting to find new ways of depicting the overload, the collapse of the senses into visual form. It makes use of paintings ability to condense moments of time into a fixed but dynamic image.
I have become increasingly interested in examining how I process this information, what attracts my eye (pattern, color, contrast), what I love about music (repetition, layering, time). My brain constantly breaks things apart, small part of the whole interest me more than the whole. I find I generally never look at entirety of things; it is too hard to process. Smaller parts are more digestible. My aim was to create paintings that function in the same way; they can be taken as whole but also in smaller bits. Like music this becomes an experience that happens over time. Your eye can follow a particular line as it moves in and out of the picture plane, as color shifts, as layers move in and out of focus. The painting becomes a particular kind of space. This space exists in-between the micro and macro, drawing and writing, interior (mind) and exterior (the body and/or landscape).
The conflicting stimuli collapse into one another. Layers are built up out of an alternating between an opacity that obscures and hides and a revealing translucency. Some shapes are completely hidden; other shapes more deeply embedded in the picture plane are exposed by scrapped and sanding the painting down.“ – M.B.
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CV / Resume
Matthew Best
Academic Credentials
MFA, Painting, 2005, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA.
BFA, Painting, minor in Art History, 1996, University of Hartford Art School, West Hartford CT
Solo Exhibitions
“10,000 Things: Recent Paintings,” October 2013. Eastampton City Arts+ Gallery, Easthampton, MA
“Interface: New Work,” March-June 2012. 100 Pearl Street Gallery, Hartford, CT.
“Monkey Mind: New Paintings,” November 2010. Artworks Gallery, Norwich, CT
“Supernature: Recent Paintings by Matthew Best”, January- April 2009
Arlington Arts Center, Arlington, VA
“Recent Work, Ornamentation and Abstraction,” January-April 2009
Greater Reston Arts Center @ Market Street, Reston, VA
“Mighty Real” October –December 2007
Fisher Art Gallery, Schlesinger Center, Alexandria, VA
“Recent Work” March 2007
Dumbarton Concert Gallery, Washington DC
“dirty pretty things: MFA Thesis Exhibition” May 2005
Herter Gallery, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA.
Selected Group Exhibitions
“Our Expanding Circle” June-July 2013, Artspace Gallery, Hartford, CT
“Working It Out” June-July 2013. The Painting Center, New York, NY
“New Works” June-July 2013. Gallery 19, Chicago, IL
“The New Aesthetic” May-June 2013, Gallery 19, Chicago, IL.
“CTAL at EBK Gallery” May-June 2013, EBK Gallery, West Hartford, CT
“Snowflake Salon, Biannual Winter Invitational,” Bridge Club of Center City, Philadelphia,
Janurary-February 2013.
“CT Artlist Exhibition,” February-March 2013, Gaylordsville, CT
“Method of Exchange,” October 2012, Points North, Farmington, ME.
“Marks and Models,” July 2012. The Studio, Laconia, NH
“Hartford Art School Alumni Exhibition,” October 2011, Slipe Gallery, West Hartford, CT.
“The Painting Show,” May-June 2011. Las Manos Gallery, Chicago, IL.
“New Works on Paper,” March 2011. Las Manos Gallery, Chicago, IL.
“Contained,” March 2011. Mills Gallery, Boston Center for the Arts, Boston, MA
“Open Air”, Nave Gallery, September 2010 , Nave Gallery, Somerville, MA
“ReModerist”, August 2010. Las Manos Gallery, Chicago, IL
“Hungry? Food and Art”, April-June 2010. The Eclipse Gallery, Algoma, WI
“The Art of Science/the Science of Art”, April-May 2010. Hodgson Art Gallery at Frederick Community College, Frederick, MD.
“Mid Atlantic New Painting 2010”, January 22-February 26 2010. Ridderhof Martin Gallery at the University of Mary Washington, Fredericksburg, VA.
“Creative Inquiries, 2010 Chautauqua Lecture Series Art Exhibition”, January 25-February 19 2010.
Giles Gallery at Eastern Kentucky University, Richmond, KY.
“the People’s Choice” January-February. 2010 ArtDC Gallery, Hyattsville, MD
“Lineweight- Exhibit of Contemporary Drawing” January-February 2009
University Art Gallery, Truman State University, Kirksville, MO
“Art Crosses the Sea II: From Northern Virginia to Seoul” Oct-Nov 2008
Yuhan College, Seoul, South Korea
“Quart Bag” August 2008
Civilian Arts Projects, Washington DC
“Arts Council @ GRACE 2008” June-August 2008
Greater Reston Arts Center, Reston, VA
“Arlington Arts Center Resident Studio Artists Group Exhibition” January-March 2008
Arlington Arts Center, Arlington, VA
“Art Crosses the Sea: From Seoul to Northern Virginia ” January 2008
Verizon Gallery, Richard J. Ernst Community Cultural Center, Annandale, VA
“art in transition continued” October 2007
Alternative Space, Washington DC
“1460 Wall Mountables” July-September 2007
District of Columbia Arts Center, Washington DC
“1460 Wall Mountables” July 2006
District of Columbia Arts Center, Washington DC
“Engendered Species” April- May 2006
CSULB Gatov and Merlino Galleries, Long Beach, CA
Advocate Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
“Hey, Is That A Boy Or A Girl: Artists Look at Gender.” Nov-Dec 2005
The Warehouse Gallery, Washington, DC
“1460 Wall Mountables” July 2005
District of Columbia Arts Center, Washington DC.
“Small Works” December 2004
Northampton Center for the Arts, Northampton, MA
“Homegrown“ September 2004.
Herter Gallery, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA
“The Mid-Way Show“ March 2004.
Student Union Art Gallery, University of Massachusetts, MA
“Perspectives“ September 2003.
Herter Gallery, University of Massachusetts, MA
“23rd Annual Open Juried Competition,” November 1999.
Artworks Gallery, Hartford, CT
“Open Juried Summertime Show” July 1999.
Artworks Gallery, Hartford, CT
“22nd Annual Open Juried Competition” December 1998.
Artworks Gallery, Hartford, CT
“Alexander A. Goldfarb Art Exhibition” December 1995
Joseloff Gallery, West Hartford, CT
Honors
Visiting Artist, February 2009, Truman State University, Kirksville, MO
Visiting Artist, March 2008, George Washington University, Washington DC
Resident Studio Artist, October 2007-December 2009, Arlington Arts Center, Arlington, VA
Public Art
“Supernature”, Arlington, VA July 2009 to present
Part of Crystal City Business Improvement District’s Art Walls Project
http://www.crystalcity.org/content/26/108/7/Programs/Artful/Art-Walls
Curation
Curator, “Subdivision: Images of Suburbia” May-June 2006
District of Columbia Arts Center, Washington DC
Teaching Experience
Adjunct Faculty, Three Rivers Community College, Norwich, CT
“Two-Dimensional Design: Fall 2010, Fall 2011, Fall 2012, Spring 2013, Fall 2014
“Drawing I, two sections” Spring 2010
Adjunct Faculty, University of Maryland College Park, College Park, MD
“2D Design Fundamentals” Fall 2009
“Elements of Drawing I and II, Advanced Drawing” Winter 2009
“Elements of Painting” Spring 2009
Assistant Professor, Adjunct Northern Virginia Community College, Loudon Campus, Sterling, VA
“Drawing I”, (six week session) Summer 2008 and 2009
“Drawing II” Spring 2008 and 2009
“Drawing I” Fall 2006-2009
Assistant Professor, Adjunct, Northern Virginia Community College, Annandale Campus, Annandale, VA
“Painting I and II” Fall 2008
“Independent Study, Painting”
“Drawing I and II Summer 2008
“Drawing I, II, and III” Fall 2006 to Spring 2008
“Foundations of Design II” Spring 2007
“Drawing I, II and IV” Summer 2007
Part Time Lecturer, Three Rivers Community College, Norwich, CT
Responsible for the creation and execution of course syllabi, creation of slide lectures, exams and grading
“Art Appreciation,” Summer 2005
Instructor of Record, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA
Responsible for the creation and execution of course syllabi, critiques and grading
“Advanced Drawing,” Spring 2005
“Advanced Drawing Problems, “ Fall 2004
“Basic Studio Design,” Fall 2003, Spring 2004 and Spring 2005
Professional and Public Activities
Instructor, Adult Education Course, “Exploring Drawing Mediums” Fall 2008
Arlington Arts Center, Arlington,VA
Lecturer “Visual Thinking” with Professor Hanlyn Davies.
Gallery A3, Amherst Massachusetts Fall 2004
Liaison between the Art Dept and Environmental Health and Safety,
University of Massachusetts. Fall/Spring 2002
Bibliography
Radio Interview with Mike Jannsen, “Edible Art” on Metro Connection, WAMU, Washington, DC
November 2009
Radio Interview with Hannah Hemmelgarn on Enviromentality Radio, Kirksville, MO.
February 2009
http:enviromentality09.worpress.com/2009/02/17/framed-foraging-with-matthew-best/