Matthew Abbott “No Horizon Insight”

LMAKgallery

[Image: Matthew Abbott "Mo Faux" (2016) Oil and Acrylic on Panel, 24 x 36 in.]

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LMAKgallery presents Matthew Abbott’s No Horizon Insight, his first solo exhibition with the gallery. Featuring his recent work from 2015-2016, Abbott has developed a new dialogue within his visual syntax that incorporates a narrative of symbology and caricature.

Embedded in a set of rules, Abbott has taken inspiration from various points of visual cultures: Islamic symbolism, pop psychedelic imagery, Tibetan Mandalas, to the geometrics of M.C. Esher. A shared characteristic is their re-interpretation of the horizon as used in Western Culture. The horizon is typically a point where land meets sea or sky and is also a reference for the viewer, an imaginary line to which all things recede. However, to re-interpret this rule and make use of multiple points of perspective, allows Abbott to shake our ground and our rational, bringing into question our relation to the painting.

With this series of paintings, Abbott proceeds to play with our preconceived perceptions and notions and push us into a world of imaginary creatures, into a labyrinth with no beginning nor end. Each mystical creature is built out of various planes of perspective and guides the eye across the canvas. Abbott’s rules come to life as he sets out each work with a limited pallet and builds his gradation from them, only veering into a new value either through mixing or placing one hue next to another and forcing our eyes to read a new hue.

These constant contradictions in the visual field of a painting are a joy to discover and rediscover. Abbott’s steadfast dedication to his work is a reward for us as we get to see a honed painter enjoy the sense of discovery within the surface of a canvas.

Abbott’s works are in the collections of: Museum of Modern Art, NY; Denver Museum of Art, CO; Brooklyn Museum of Art, NY; Akron Art Museum, OH; and Whitney Museum of American Art, NY.