Shadow Image 2
23 x 44 inches (h x w)
Acrylic on Black Burlap over Canvas
2023
About the Artwork:
Matthew Mahler states, "My paintings are a visual exploration that are reflective of my experience straddling the space between analog and digital realities. On a very basic level I'm interested in documenting how my exercise of close looking and ultimately "seeing" has evolved over time. For me the act of painting represents a way of slowing the passage of time while simultaneously scrolling or swiping it away; gradients are juxtaposed against applications of flat color in an attempt to simultaneously seduce and soothe our digitized palates. I'm interested in society's collective experience of looking, searching, sharing and the idea of permanence and what that does or does not mean. Control and chance are ever present in my work. The rectangles in my work reference the proportions of digitized screens that have come to dominate the way we do everything from business to socializing. These paintings are a collection of layers of varying opacities, each representing a passage of time. Some moments resonate while others are more elusive but all are present and inform the next. "