Statement

Like a jazz improvisation, Matthew Beall's artwork has always been a dynamic combination of rigorous precision and open-ended exploration. His commitment to examining the core issues of his art through non-objective, reductive abstraction is fueled by his desire to display on canvas the dialogue between the irreducible qualities of visual art and the artist's freewheeling impulses. Matthew's paintings consistently exploit the tension between aesthetic truths and the desire for beauty, played out through different paint textures and colors, particularly dark forms of varying opacity grappling with lighter ones, as well as the moments of transformation when line thickens and becomes dimensional shape, and color goes from subjective expressionism to formal minimalism. As he explores these topics anew with every fresh discovery, Matthew’s work transforms the canvas from a conventional space perpetuating the illusion of mimesis into a zone where central aesthetic issues are examined and where the visual language of painting can be articulated.

Matthew has recently furthered his investigation into aesthetic possibilities with his work in geometric abstraction. The crux of this exploration lies in his study of the complex relationship among columns of white, black and gray, with slivers of other colors drawing attention to the formal composition. The result is a series of works about balance and its subversion, with the occasional painterly brushstroke adding a tactile quality to otherwise smooth or "cool" abstractions. Matthew also shifts the focus away from the center of the canvas--one's attention is often forced outward, along the visual line of his innovative forms. When the canvas center is the focus, it is often as a hinge for shapes echoing each other. When the work seems drawn to a canvas corner, his lines thicken into tangible shapes as they spread toward the center like Euclidean right-angled ripples. The art object's ambivalence towards subverting traditional composition is one of Matthew’s thematic preoccupations, which is what he is ultimately investigating--where the artist's hand meets the pure aesthetic ideas at play on the canvas, and how far you can sublimate conventional expectations into minimalist discoveries about what the human eye craves. Matthew's work reveals that what we crave is not one singular thing, but balance, drama and innovation. His exploration into artistic issues through his confident, evolving approach to the canvas engages the viewer with challenging and rewarding aesthetic experiences.