“Finding language in the shapes of objects is one of the core tenets of my practice.“ -Matt Magee, 2022
Bookstein Projects is pleased to announce an exhibition of recent work by Matt Magee. This is the artist’s first solo show with Bookstein Projects.
Consisting of work with varied mediums and approaches, Matt Magee: Analog, focuses on the artist’s own interpretation of the ever-evolving concept of language and the differently abstract and beautiful ways in which ideas can be conveyed through it. Pulling inspiration from his own experiences and working directly off things like Ouija boards, fortune cookies, text threads, and Egyptian hieroglyphics has allowed Magee to transform seemingly ordinary aspects of our lives and history to create a fascinating collection that shines a spotlight on the multitude of ways we communicate and how that can be expressed and consumed.
Providing an arguably mechanical coldness and a uniform composition, the piece Green Aluminum Circuit expertly repurposes the interiors of aluminum cans to simulate a matrix of computer circuitry and code, a language that many of us overlook despite our well-established reliance and familiarity with modern technology. The incorporation of technology and it’s blending with language extends to Magee’s Apostrophe, a work which uses a screenshot of punctuation the artist texted himself as the basis for an oil painting on panel that further shows the limitless ways we converse. Magee explains, “making a painting of the screenshot has evolved into another way of expressing a language of emotion, which is what punctuation is. It adds the dynamic to written word.”
Over a career spanning more than four decades, Magee has experimented widely with abstract and conceptual art practices. Magee’s compositions are organizations of shapes that have been informed by personal history, numerology, and language. Re-purposing a variety of found and collected media characterizes his sculpture and collage while his paintings explore language symbolically with an emphasis on repetition and reiteration and nods to art historical precedents.
Matt Magee (b. 1961, Neuilly-sur-Seine Paris, France) received his MFA from Pratt Institute, New York and a BA in Art History from Trinity University, San Antonio, TX. From 1994 – 2012 Magee served as a studio assistant to Robert Rauschenberg. The artist’s work is included in numerous public collections including the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX, the Beinecke Rare Book and Manuscript Library, Yale University, New Haven, CT, the Josef and Anni Albers Foundation, Bethany, CT, the Albuquerque Art Museum, the Phoenix Art Museum, Phoenix, AZ among others. Magee is the recipient of numerous accolades including two resident fellowships from the Josef and Anni Albers Foundation (2007 and 2015), the New York Foundation for the Arts Grant (2002) and the Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant (1991). The artist lives and works in Scottsdale, Arizona.
Matt Magee: Analog will be on view from June 1 – July 13, 2022. A reception with the artist will be held on Wednesday, June 8th from 6:00-8:00 PM. Gallery hours are Monday through Friday, 11:00 am to 6:00 pm or by appointment. To make an appointment or for additional information and/or visual materials, please contact the gallery at (212) 750-0949 or by email at [email protected].
