Matthew Rich

Rich (b. 1976, Boston) works with latex paint on cut paper to make compositions that straddle the line between two and three dimensions. The dual nature of these works extends beyond their physical ambiguity, as Rich explores a balance between structure and fragility, intention and accident, front and back, abstraction and representation, illusion and concrete presence.

Process is a key element here. Rich begins by painting both sides of large sheets of paper with flat latex paint while on the floor. These sheets are then moved to a large table, where they are cut and re-cut until there is a sea of small pieces that are then combined in response to ideas worked out in innumerable sketchbooks. No definitive “front” is established during this process, as Rich flips works back and forth, adding and removing fragments.

Sometimes the works exhibit a coherent three-dimensional illusion—a prism, an unfolding ribbon, steps, or stairs. Other times they display the language of the everyday accident: the rip, the spill, the fold. In addition, the work sometimes has a tangible compositional relationship to the wall, and by extension to the larger environment in which it is shown.

Rich received a BA from Brown University in 1998 and an MFA in Painting and Drawing from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in 2004. He is a lecturer in the Department of Art + Design at Northeastern University.

LINKS
matthew-rich.com

NEWS
"No Embarassment for Riches," Boston Globe, February 7, 2010