Thierry Goldberg is pleased to present Charm, an online exhibition of works by Matthew Del Carmen. The exhibition runs from September 22 through October 21, 2023.
The banal is parsed for its latent beauty in Matthew Del Carmen's artistic practice, a pursuit that he approaches with a rarefied blend of empathy and intimacy. Del Carmen orchestrates a patient interplay of texture and affectionate rapport, defying simplicity with his portraits that exude both warmth and refinement. Within each composition, a cast of the artist's friends takes center stage, encapsulating the ease of camaraderie against an urban backdrop. It is through this very lens that Del Carmen bestows upon his audience an augmented acuity for life's unassuming yet invaluable moments.
With a firm hand, Del Carmen anchors Charm in the embrace of New York City, both compositionally and formally. His canvases are anything but conventional; they're composed of found objects wrested from the very streets of the city, each carrying its own gritty texture that playfully undermines Del Carmen's painterly equilibrium. From cement slabs to particle boards, each new material demands his continual artistic evolution, transforming each work into a riveting odyssey of exploration. Each piece forms a seductive visual lexicon that reverberates with the essence of the work's urban roots.
The dynamic interaction of material and medium gives birth to an unparalleled tactility that dances in tandem with the subject. In "How's the Fit?, 2023," we witness this enigmatic dichotomy in its fullest bloom. Layers of acrylic, watercolor, gouache, ink, pencil, graphite, and marker embrace a slab of framed cement with the tenderness of a blanket. The scene unfolds with the subject turned askance, absorbed in the act of trying on a jacket before a mirror. A man steadies the mirror upon a chair, both figures seemingly engrossed in the sartorial appraisal. The setting, a nonchalant commercial backdrop, taps into the reservoir of shared human experience, while the palpable texture lends an undercurrent of novelty, coaxing forth a profound dialogue with the observer.
In "Overexposed," detail takes center stage. The canvas bursts with domestic clutter, an ocular investigation into the subject's private space. Amidst this tableau, a woman commands focus, reclining against an orange-upholstered chair. One hand weaves through her hair, while the other rests on a laptop trackpad. Simultaneously, the horizontal grain of the wood panel discreetly adds its own striations to the composition, mirroring the tranquil repose that imbues the scene.
Del Carmen has curated an anthology of fossilized moments that ensnare the prosaic elegance of the quotidian. Charm orchestrates an extraordinary duet between texture and superimposed composition, harmonizing with the visual symphony of familiarity. Each painting resurrects its discarded canvas, endowing these found materials with an intimately rendered tableau of cherished connection.
Matthew Del Carmen (b. 2001, Makati, Philippines) lives and works in New York, NY. Del Carmen holds an BFA from the Pratt Institute, New York, NY. He has participated in group shows at the Reliquary Museum, Brooklyn, NY; Art Cave, Brooklyn, New York; and IceBox4 Gallery, Brooklyn, New York. He was also an artist-in-residence at Byrdcliffe Arts Colony, Woodstock, New York. This is his first show with Thierry Goldberg.
For more information, please call or email the gallery at +1.212.228.7569 or info@thierrygoldberg.com