Matthew Stone
Optimism as Cultural Rebellion
November 1 – December 10th 2011
Opening November 1, 6-9PM
The Hole is pleased to announce the first comprehensive gallery exhibition in the United States by British artist Matthew Stone.
The exhibition will focus on the intersections between the ideas, photography and sculptures that define Matthew’s work. Alongside his sculptural installations of photography, he will also be presenting a performance at the gallery titled “Anatomy of Immaterial Worlds” (November 3rd at 9pm) as part of the visual art performance biennial PERFORMA 11.
Two large wooden planes bisect the gallery walls and provide a rhythm for the navigation of the space. Photographic nudes printed directly onto birch panels are cut, hinged and folded along the walls and across the floor, in what uber-curator Hans-Ulrich Obrist has described as “a-perspective constellations”. In one work titled “Forever Rules” a large photographic nude is cut into hundreds of squares and attached to fabric that passes through an oak dodecahedron and cube, draping down onto the floor. Whilst Plato’s divine geometry is honored in part, it is simultaneously corrupted by the poetic complexity and beauty of the human body in action, flowing through and against the rigid logic of its geometric counterparts.
The title of the exhibition “Optimism as Cultural Rebellion” should be considered a one-line manifesto, perhaps a “mini-festo”. Since 2004 Matthew has developed a personal philosophy of Optimism, defining it as “the vital force that entangles itself with and then shapes the future.” This timely position permeates all of his activities. Matthew Stone operates as an artist in a total sense: his very being, his community, his lifestyle and its expression dictate the creation of his interconnected works. As well as creating photography and sculpture he works in multiple worlds as curator, philosopher, performer, musician, facilitator and cultural provocateur.
Matthew was born in 1982 and graduated from Camberwell College of Arts, University of the Arts London with honors in painting. After leaving college he masterminded the art-collective-cum-scene !WOWOW! in squatted South-London buildings. Their group shows and parties in empty buildings attracted audiences of over 1500 people and a performance event at the Tate saw a record 4000 people in attendance. Recent solo exhibitions have been presented at V1 Gallery, Denmark; Galerie Paul Freches, Paris; Boyschool, London; Gea Politi, Milan, and Union Gallery, London. I first came across Matthew’s work when Terence Koh presentedTianhuang Dadi at Asia Song Society on Canal Street in 2007.
Recent photographic projects include a collaboration with Givenchy’s Ricardo Tisci for the cover of the 20th anniversary issue of Dazed & Confused magazine and a fold-out sculptural cover for the current Flaunt Magazine. He composes original music for close friend and collaborator, fashion designer Gareth Pugh’s shows and has directed music videos for acclaimed British bands These New Puritans, S.C.U.M and for New York lo-fi band No Bra.
Matt Stone
Residuum
November 1 - December 10, 2011
Opening November 1, 6-9PM
The Hole is pleased to announce the first New York City solo exhibition by sculptor Matt Stone. Matt has created a suite of sculptures for our rear gallery that feature formal geometries explored with flamboyant materials.
The exhibition features nine small wall works comprised of polyurethane foam, spandex, resin and pins. These studies are isolated specimens from his overflowing biospheres in the larger pieces, fragments flung of from his larger work, Seed Crystal. Furnace is the central sculpture in the room featuring three fifteen-foot steel and plexi beams overflowing with colored foam and resin. These components are spun into a whirled tripod making a quartz-like, exotic cluster.
The large group of leaning, elongated triangular tubes in the rear of the gallery is a nod to spiritual minimalist John McCracken and is titled Prism. The multi-material filled tubes contain frozen gestures, spills and drips; and, like an ant farm, embody contained chaotic activity and emergent order.
Matt Stone’s works open up new seams of valuable deposits, as he takes core samples from an as yet unexplored material universe. He nurtures each work like an exotic garden, letting each material iterate into a fantastic and flamboyant new form.
Working previously as an assistant to Judy Pfaff and currently assisting Marilyn Minter-- two very differently glamorous artists-- Matt developed an interest in ways to make the formal fabulous. Planar cuts of foam-filled wood and tenuous geometric wire forms are the beginning of the party he starts with color and texture.
Matt graduated from SVA with a masters in sculpture in 2010. His first solo exhibition was at Like the Spice gallery in Brooklyn this summer.
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For more information please contact
kathy@theholenyc.com or call 212-466-1100.
The Hole is open Tuesday-Saturday 12-7pm
http://www.theholenyc.com
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