Blue/Yellow Star Painting

This series of paintings started with a fascination with vision and how seeing is not necessarily a function of the eyes, but of the “soul”; what we see is not just a function of what is out there, but in large part is influenced by what’s going on in our minds. It’s tempting to see our vision as a biological movie projector, sending images to our brain via our retina; however, this is over-simplified. Our vision, as humans, is an active process, and largely guided by what we already know about the world. With this idea of vision guided by our past, Matthew plays with both geometry and color to create a series of paintings that involve the viewer, unwittingly, in the process of making the art by: 1) allowing the viewer’s expectations to add continuity and order to the paintings and 2) to coerce the viewer to see contours and value variations that don't actually exist. The art here really is in the eye of the beholder. The paintings in this series appear completely different, depending on the distance from which they are viewed (best hung in a room that allows viewers to be at least 15 feet away and to move up close to the painting). Close viewing reveals lines that aren't quite straight, colors that are flat and monotone and subtle imperfections on the surface of the canvas. But when viewed from further away (as quickly as 5 feet from the surface), the piece begins to shade itself (colors are surrounded by higher values on one side and lower values on the other, causing the eye to perceive a value gradient and contours that are not actually present). Additionally, when viewed at a distance, the repeated geometric shapes create lines and depth that are otherwise not perceived at close quarters. The painting comes with a wooden float frame finished with high-gloss, white enamel. Size of framed art: 68.25" x 68.25" Size of canvas: 66" x 66"