Colin Matthes makes work about engineering the absurd, which allows him to address economic and environmental crisis from a funny, critical, and perversely industrious point of view. His work includes painting, drawing, installation, zine and graphic production, ceramics, and public art projects. Matthes has exhibited internationally in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Antwerp, Dublin, Houston, Seville, Ljubljana, Melbourne, and Berlin. Recent solo-projects include Colin Matthes: Instructional and Flood Resistant Work at Bockley Gallery (Minneapolis, MN), The Almost Now at Het Bos in Antwerp Belgium, and Green Mini Demo Derby, a solar powered remote control car demolition derby at the 2016 Energy Fair (Custer, WI). He has participated in numerous residencies including Hotel Pupik (Austria), Werkkamp (Belgium), and Cow House Studios (Ireland). He won the Marl L Nohl Fellowship for Individual Artists in 2102 (Established) and 2007 (Emerging). In addition, Matthes works collectively with Justseeds, a network of twenty-six artists living in the United States, Canada, and Mexico that runs a print collective, contributes graphics to social movements, and co-publishes books.
Original 11x17 printout from David Ellis' iconic Roebling Hall exhibition "Dozens", 2008. NYC where attendees of the exhibition were encouraged to take a copy.
The most elaborate and layered piece in the show is “Oh Superman,” which pays homage to Laurie Anderson’s premonitory performance (and eponymous song). Ellis’s rhythmic “Oh Superman” is a combination typewriter and player piano. In the shape of Superman’s emblem, Anderson’s lyrics are typed on the piano rolls then mechanically cut and inserted into glass bottles, which roll off in random directions to deliver an S.O.S.: “Here come the planes. They’re American planes. Made in America.”
We see the same Superman emblem in a bird’s-eye view projection of Ellis’s painting the top of packing crates. Another reference to planes appears in a found text for airplane safety, used in one of a series of college panels hung throughout the gallery. The panels are composed of various texts and drawings, including his to-do lists, and a wave-like form resembling a graffiti tag.
Seeker is an artist book / catalog for Eddie Martinez’ show at Peres Projects in Berlin, 2011. This hand screenprinted folio is printed on heavy craft stock with a full colour catalog bound on centerfold by elastic.
Colin Matthes makes work about engineering the absurd, which allows him to address economic and environmental crisis from a funny, critical, and perversely industrious point of view. His work includes painting, drawing, installation, zine and graphic production, ceramics, and public art projects. Matthes has exhibited internationally in New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, Antwerp, Dublin, Houston, Seville, Ljubljana, Melbourne, and Berlin. Recent solo-projects include Colin Matthes: Instructional and Flood Resistant Work at Bockley Gallery (Minneapolis, MN), The Almost Now at Het Bos in Antwerp Belgium, and Green Mini Demo Derby, a solar powered remote control car demolition derby at the 2016 Energy Fair (Custer, WI). He has participated in numerous residencies including Hotel Pupik (Austria), Werkkamp (Belgium), and Cow House Studios (Ireland). He won the Marl L Nohl Fellowship for Individual Artists in 2102 (Established) and 2007 (Emerging). In addition, Matthes works collectively with Justseeds, a network of twenty-six artists living in the United States, Canada, and Mexico that runs a print collective, contributes graphics to social movements, and co-publishes books.
