studioe
Matt Jones
CV | #mattjonesstudio
EXHIBITIONS
Matt Jones: In Advance of a Visit
June 1 - 29, 2024
link: ︎June 8th, 2024 artist talk
studio e is proud to present In Advance of a Visit, an exhibition of new paintings and drawings by New York-based artist Matt Jones, his first with the gallery.
“The works in In Advance of a Visit energize the mythical (medieval illumination, dream visions, folklore) through attention to the local (old-growth forests, landscape architecture, and communal gardens in Northern Manhattan). An eye hovers in the background, as the poet’s face becomes a landscape, and bats become butterflies, butterfly wings, eyes, windows, the pages of a book. Long since extinguished candles nest under heavy clouds in a Prussian blue sky, the idea of their light lingering, where a broken wrought-iron fence wilts like a flower at the edge of the canvas. The candles are less domestic objects than arboreal entities. The tree stumps are antediluvian beings, their rings expressions of an entire life pulsing against the edge of the pictorial frame. The tree stumps, rooted in thought-feelings of climate catastrophe, erode the art historical assumption of the human subject (and the borders and binaries engendered by it), tendering the possibility of multiple simultaneous perspectives. Recurring symbols are correlated into a dynamic narrative experience. The paintings invite the viewer into each pictorial moment through perspectival instability, narrative ambiguity, and the urgency of the paint handling. There is the promise of story, and yet, the story is not predetermined, it is contingent and alive to the viewer’s presence.” --Matt Jones
CV | #mattjonesstudio
EXHIBITIONS
Matt Jones: In Advance of a Visit
June 1 - 29, 2024
link: ︎June 8th, 2024 artist talk
studio e is proud to present In Advance of a Visit, an exhibition of new paintings and drawings by New York-based artist Matt Jones, his first with the gallery.
“The works in In Advance of a Visit energize the mythical (medieval illumination, dream visions, folklore) through attention to the local (old-growth forests, landscape architecture, and communal gardens in Northern Manhattan). An eye hovers in the background, as the poet’s face becomes a landscape, and bats become butterflies, butterfly wings, eyes, windows, the pages of a book. Long since extinguished candles nest under heavy clouds in a Prussian blue sky, the idea of their light lingering, where a broken wrought-iron fence wilts like a flower at the edge of the canvas. The candles are less domestic objects than arboreal entities. The tree stumps are antediluvian beings, their rings expressions of an entire life pulsing against the edge of the pictorial frame. The tree stumps, rooted in thought-feelings of climate catastrophe, erode the art historical assumption of the human subject (and the borders and binaries engendered by it), tendering the possibility of multiple simultaneous perspectives. Recurring symbols are correlated into a dynamic narrative experience. The paintings invite the viewer into each pictorial moment through perspectival instability, narrative ambiguity, and the urgency of the paint handling. There is the promise of story, and yet, the story is not predetermined, it is contingent and alive to the viewer’s presence.” --Matt Jones
Jones has had many one or two person shows including Galerie Jerome Pauchant (Paris), Freight + Volume Gallery (New York), Horton Gallery (Berlin), Castor Gallery (New York), The Richard Massey Foundation (New York), and Bleecker Street Art Club (New York. He has participated multiple art fairs including NADA Miami (The Hole, New York), Spring Break Art Fair (Old School, Brooklyn), Miami Project (Driscoll Babcock, New York) and a solo presentation at Art Brussels (Bodson Gallery, Brussels). His work has been displayed in numerous group shows including Robert Miller (New York), Soy Capitán (Berlin), Olympia (New York), Anonymous (Mexico City & New York), Driscoll Babcock Gallery (New York), ADA Gallery (Richmond, VA), Dorfman Projects (New York), Tibet House (New York), The Varsity (Brooklyn), Galleri Geo (Bergan, Norway), Grey East (East Hampton, NY), The Artbridge Drawing Room (New York), Gildar Gallery (Beverly Hills, CA), Fiebach Minninger (Cologne), Exit Art (New York), and The Hole (New York). He has done performances at Essex Flowers (New York), Anonymous (New York), Artist Space (New York), and Creative Time (New York).
Jones attended the Yale University School of Art Summer School of Painting—Norfolk on an Ellen Battell Stoeckel Grant (2001), earned a BFA from Cooper Union (2002), and received an MFA at Hunter College (2021). In 2007 he founded Puppy American, a small independent press which publishes artist books, zines, poetry, and organizes exhibitions, focusing on collaboration. He lives and works in New York City with his partner, young child, and greyhound.
Jones attended the Yale University School of Art Summer School of Painting—Norfolk on an Ellen Battell Stoeckel Grant (2001), earned a BFA from Cooper Union (2002), and received an MFA at Hunter College (2021). In 2007 he founded Puppy American, a small independent press which publishes artist books, zines, poetry, and organizes exhibitions, focusing on collaboration. He lives and works in New York City with his partner, young child, and greyhound.
In Advance of a Visit
![Seven Green Tree Stumps, 2023, Oil on canvas, 30 x 40 in.]()
![Fingerprint of the forest, 2023, Oil on canvas, 30 x 40 in.]()
![A Forest Bat, 2023, Oil on canvas, 9 x 12 in. (sold)]()
![Matt Jones: In advance of a visit, 6-24, Photo credit: James Arzente]()
![Several Tree Stumps, 2023, Oil on canvas, 20 x 16 in.]()
![Bat, 2023, Oil on canvas, 9 x 12 in.]()
![A Green Bat, 2023, Oil on canvas, 9 x 12 in.]()
![Tension, 2023, Oil on canvas, 20 x 16 in. (sold)]()
![A Bat at Night, 2024, Sumi ink on paper 22 x 30 in.]()
![Poet, 2023, Oil on canvas, 20 x 16 in.]()
![A long time, 2023, Oil on canvas, 20 x 16 in.]()
![Old Growth Self-portrait, 2024, Sumi ink on paper, 22 x 30 in. (framed dimensions 25 5/8 x 33 3/4 in.)]()
![Photo credit: James Arzente]()
![A Blue Split Scaled Tree Stump, 2023, Oil on canvas, 30 x 40 in.]()
![The Future, 2024, Oil on canvas, 9 x 12 in.]()
![A green hand, an eye, a mushroom, and a moth, 2022, Oil on canvas, 24 x 18 in.]()
![The Morning Sun, 2024, Sumi ink on paper, 22 x 30 in]()
![Five Opinions, 2023, Oil on canvas, 20 x 16 in.]()
![18 candles, two clouds, a tree stump, and a broken fence at night, 2021, Oil on canvas, 30 x 40 in.]()
![Double Forest Rainbow, 2023, Oil on canvas, 20 x 16 in.]()
![Self Portrait with Stump Cloud and Orb, 2023, Sumi ink on paper, 22 x 30 in.]()
![Forest Butterfly, 2023, Oil on canvas, 9 x 12 in. (sold)]()
![Red Candle-Winged Butterfly, 2023, Oil on canvas, 9 x 12 in.]()
![A grey candle-stick-winged butterfly, lit, 2022, Oil on canvas, 9 x 12 in.]()
![Orange Flower Butterfly, 2022, Oil on canvas, 9 x 12 in.]()
![Rainbow Candle-Winged Butterfly, 2023, Oil on canvas, 9 x 12 in.]()
![A poet, 2023, Sumi ink on paper, 24 x 19 in.]()
![A Comedian, 2023, Sumi ink on paper, 24 x 19 in. (sold)]()
![A Warm Looker Butterfly, 2023, Oil on canvas, 9 x 12 in.]()
![What a night to have a dream, 2024, Sumi ink on paper, 22 x 30 in.]()
![A book in a field with two flowers, a tree stump, and the sun, 2023, Sumi ink on paper, 22 x 30 in.]()
![Contemplative Self Portrait, 2023, Sumi ink on paper, 24 x 19 in.]()
![The First Bat, 2022, Oil on canvas, 18 x 24 in.]()
![The First After Party, 2024, Sumi ink on paper, 22 x 30 in. (sold)]()
