EMPIRES

Matthew Craven

Matthew Craven uses found images and texts that feature objects from the ancient and prehistoric worlds, which he cuts out of mid-20th century picture books and reference works, like encyclopedias. In his 2018 work EMPIRES Craven mixes found images of artifacts from unconnected periods and regions: classical Greek columns, Neolithic figurines from Romania, Palaeolithic antler tusk pendants, Mayan textiles, golden crucifixes, and many other objects. As in Authority (one element of EMPIRES) the result overwhelms the visual and historic senses. His Ornate, also from EMPIRES, presents parallel, horizontal rows of colored textiles, overlain by a classical stone bust from which the eyes have been removed to reveal white empty space; the bottom half of this work consists of a grid of over 60 egg-shaped patterns. In, Authority, another part of the larger work there are no easy stories provided, no narrative. In Wisdom, Craven, again provides tight rows of images of colored textiles, this time overlain by another statue bust, this one from what the viewer guesses to be an African context; as with the bust in Ornate, the eyes are replaced with empty white space.

As Leslie Jones writes in her forward to Craven’s stunning 2018 book Primer, Craven sees himself as a collector: “Digging for books is like digging for records”. For Jones, Craven’s work brings to mind  mosaics or textiles, and at a more general level, stands as a revision of global art history. As Jones puts it,

“Craven’s pictorial revision of global art history is based largely on formal similarities across time, space, and cultures (not to mention the availability of materials and his own unique aesthetic sensibility), what he describes simple as ‘things made by man’. While a critique of Western imperialism is implied in his process, the work also summons universal notions of humankind’s shared impulse to create.” (Jones 2018, v)

Matthew Craven is a Los Angeles based artist who received a BFA from the School of Visual Arts in New York and an MFA from Michigan State, Matthew showed EMPIRES at the Asya Geisberg Gallery in New York in 2018.

For more information about Matthew and his work follow this link:

• https://matthewcraven.com/home.html

Also see his recent book:

• Craven, M. 2018. Primer: Matthew Craven. New York: Anthology Editions.

And take a look at Leslie Jones’ forward:

Jones, L. 2018. Forward. In M. Craven, Primer: Matthew Craven, page v. New York: Anthology Editions.

For more information about the Asya Geisberg Gallery go here:

https://www.asyageisberggallery.com/