Matthew Craven

StatementCVExhibitionsPress

Alternating between the hand-made and found images, Matthew Craven reconfigures original historical narratives by fusing hand cut imagery from history textbooks onto backgrounds of geometric symbols and textile patterning, meticulously drawn on the reverse sides of vintage movie posters. Obsessive repetition of color and motif join contrasting thoughts to create a surreal vernacular built on transformation, precision and vibrancy. Placed within this new symbolism and meaning, the found images lose their original context and carry on within a newly imagined, temporal existence that alludes to Chinese symbols, Egyptian hieroglyphics, Assyrian script and the pagan alphabet.

Craven received his MFA from School of Visual Arts in New York and his BFA from Michigan State University. He has had exhibited widely in the United States and abroad, including solo and two-person exhibitions at Asya Geisberg Gallery, New York City, NY; DCKT Contemporary, New York, NY; Allegra LaViola, New York, NY; Marvelli Gallery, New York, NY; David Shelton Gallery, Houston, TX; Gallery Hijinks, San Francisco, CA; Packing, Detroit, MI; and Get This! Gallery, Atlanta, GA. He has been included in group exhibitions at UB Anderson Gallery, University at Buffalo, The State University of New York, NY; Muster-Meier, Switzerland; Richard Heller Gallery, Los Angeles; Perry Rubenstein, NY; and the Hole, NY; among others. Craven has recently participated in the Marfa Myths Artist Residency in Marfa, TX. He has been reviewed in The Brooklyn Rail, Art Critical, The Huffington Post and Burnaway, and has curated exhibitions at DCKT, Asya Geisberg Gallery and Nudashank.

Matthew Craven; Sculpture/Split, 2015; ink on found paper; 55 1/2 x 40 in.
Matthew Craven; Tomb (totem), 2015; found image and ink on found paper; 40 x 31 in.
Matthew Craven; MonoLyth, 2015; found image and ink on found paper; 21 x 15 1/2 in.
Matthew Craven; FORM modern, 2015; found image and ink on found paper; 12 1/2 x 9 1/4 in.
Matthew Craven; VESSEL, 2015; found images and ink on found paper; 12 1/4 x 9 1/4 in.
Matthew Craven; VISION bust, 2015; found image and ink on found paper; 11 1/2 x 8 3/4 in.
Matthew Craven; theDOUBLE, 2015; ink and found images on found paper; 52 x 32 in