Matt Rich

Holly Johnson Gallery is pleased to present MATT RICH: PAINTING, an exhibition of gouaches and painted paper constructions by the Los Angeles-based artist. An opening reception for the artist will be held Saturday, October 14, from 5 - 8 pm. The exhibition is the third with the artist and continues through December 22.

Matt Rich’s work combines a range of materials to implicate objects and architecture in ways that challenge the definitions of painting’s supports and surfaces. The integration of alternative support structures and flat compositions complicates the relationship between painted and sculptural space. Rich’s gouaches are process-based compositions built by layering colors and shapes in traditional frames as well as in handmade wooden constructions. The compositions capture overlapping forms combined with surprising color combinations that are rooted in abstraction and process. Similarly, Matt Rich’s shaped collage paintings are meticulous constructions crafted from painted, cut, and joined pieces of canvas. Their irregular shaped borders and not-quite-flat surfaces directly implicate the surrounding architecture.

Matt Rich was born in Boston, MA (1976). He received his BA in Visual Arts & History of Art and Architecture from Brown University, Providence, RI (1998), and his MFA in Painting & Drawing from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (2004). He attended the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture (2010) and was a finalist for the James and Audrey Foster Prize at the Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston in 2010. He has received fellowships from the Howard Foundation, Massachusetts Cultural Council, the Terra Foundation for the Arts, and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.

His work has been included in numerous gallery exhibitions including at Halsey McKay Gallery, East Hampton and New York, NY; LaMontagne Gallery and Samson Projects, Boston, MA; Devening Projects, Chicago, IL; DODGE gallery and BravinLee Programs in New York City; and The Athenaeum, La Jolla, CA and in venues such as the Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, MA; Museum of Contemporary Art, San Diego; The San Diego International Airport; Columbus College of Art and Design, Columbus, OH; MIT List Art Center, Cambridge, MA; and the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, Kansas City, MO. He recently closed his first solo museum exhibition at the Timken Museum in San Diego, CA.

His ongoing collaboration with partner Victoria Fu has exhibited and/or had public performances at Orange County Museum of Art in Santa Ana, CA; University of Massachusetts Boston; University of Southern California, Henie Onstad Kunstsenter in Oslo, Norway; and the Miller/ICA at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, PA. This past year they staged a commissioned series of public art events with their artworks at the Getty Center in Los Angeles. Their largest project to date: a major, multi-year design commission for a LA Metro subway station is slated for completion in 2028. 

His works are in the permanent collections of List Visual Arts Center at MIT, The Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art in Kansas City, Cleveland Clinic, Dana Farber Cancer Institute Art Collection in Boston, and"‹ Northeastern University in Boston. His art has been written about in publications including Modern Painters, Artforum, Art Ltd., ArtPapers, DMagazine, and The Boston Globe, among others.

Holly Johnson Gallery is located at 1845 East Levee Street #100: Dallas, Texas 75207. Gallery hours are 11:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m., Tuesday through Saturday. For more information call 214-369-0169, or email info@hollyjohnsongallery.com, or visit the gallery website at www.hollyjohnsongallery.com.