ARTIST
MATT NEUMAN
New York | NY
AVAILABLE PAINTINGS
AVAILABLE PRINTS
CASCADE COLLECTION
SOLSTICE COLLECTION
CLOVER COLLECTION
COILS COLLECTION
CIRCLE GRID COLLECTION
Matt Neuman (American, b. 1985) is a painter and printmaker based in the Bronx, NY. Interested in the visual interplay of color, line, geometry and repetition, he creates optically dense compositions that reverberate within the confines of his surface. Coupled with an interest in physics, origami, space-time, and the infinite image, Neuman’s work engages with geometric abstraction as a means of providing structural logic that resonates with humanity's instinctive tendency to organize information.
ARTIST STATEMENT
“Like using both hands to examine and understand an object, I use painting and printmaking to pass concepts back and forth as I explore them. And like each hand, each process works both independently and as part of a system where the motions of each are greatly affected by the other.”
— Matt Neuman
I have been working under the umbrella of geometric abstraction for many years now. I like to work through iteration as opposed to open and shut bodies of work that don’t leave a thread with which to move forward. There was a major change a little over a year back. I think about this most recent development as an axial shift in how geometry functions within the composition. Older works always had a center point from which visual energy could radiate outward along the X and Y. This new body of work functions along the Z-axis; activating the space between the viewer and the artwork. Just like an origami crease pattern that implies a hidden physical reality lying in wait, these works use line and color to suggest a willingness for the picture plane to shape-shift and fold into an unknowable yet somehow tangible secondary form.
This past year I have focused on small works and increasing the visual vocabulary within a group of ideas. I’d like to explore compositions based on classic “impossible” geometries. Geometry is one of those universal languages we can all associate with. I’d like to see what happens to the way we relate to shapes when they contain inherent contradictions.
I’m constantly drawn to the idea of infinity. It’s the single most humbling concept recognized by the human mind. I’d love to be able to imbue my works with just a touch of that feeling I get deep in my core when I’m able to step so far outside myself that the weight of the infinite sinks in. As a natural counterpart to the infinite, I think about the finite as well; about self-contained systems built of parts but able to find a resolution. Then there are a bunch of semi-related words and themes at that resonate and become part of the feedback loop: physics, time, space, energy, origami, transformation, etc.
I found printmaking late in my MFA years. I was focused on painting but ultimately bored by the endless brush and canvas connection. I started following materials instead. I ended up making wooden surface “paintings” in low relief. The surfaces sort of begged to be printed from because they were a lot like relief printing blocks already. Painting brokered my transition into woodcut print. It’s now my primary focus.
Painting and printmaking are in constant conversation in my studio now. There is a wonderful call and response that takes place when I use both mediums side by side to express one central body of ideas. Like using both hands to examine and understand an object, I use painting and printmaking to pass concepts back and forth as I explore them. And like each hand, each process works both independently and as part of a system where the motions of each are greatly affected by the other. I approach printmaking like a painter, inking fast, making marks, and throwing color around without concern for cleanliness or perfection. Through print processes, I am able to then impose a certain mechanical precision on an otherwise very fluid and painterly process.
Alternatively, my painting has adopted the characteristics of print. Just as in printmaking where I control composition using printing plates, in paintings I rely on woodcraft to build compositions into the works before considerations of color and surface come into play.
EDUCATION
Boston University - MFA - Boston, MA —2011
Skidmore College - BA - Saratoga Springs, NY —2007
Solo Exhibitions
/ for·mu·la / - Longview Gallery - Washington, DC —2020
Scope Miami Beach - Asterisk Projects - New York, NY —2018
Ad Infinitum - E.TAY Gallery - New York, NY —2016
In | Finite - Collective One Gallery - Atlanta, GA —2015
Scope Miami Beach —Dec. 2014
Houston Fine Art Fair —Sept. 2014
Supersymmetry - Horowitz Performing Arts Center - Vermont Academy - Saxtons River, VT —2012
Chaos in Confines - LIVASPENART - Aspen, CO —2008
Select Group Exhibitions
When Line Meets Memory - The Directed Art Modern - Miami, FL —2019
Refresh - Longview Gallery - Washington, DC —2019
Paper Cut - Musa Collective - Boston, MA —2018
And So It Begins - On Center Gallery - Provincetown, MA —2017
Woodcut Prints - Longview Gallery - Washington, DC —2017
Scope Miami Beach - Asterisk, NY —2016
Affordable Art Fair - Asterisk, NY —2016
Buxton / Neuman - David Rothermel Gallery - Santa Fe, NM —2015
Architectural Digest Fair - Chase Edwards Gallery - Bridgehampton, NY —2015
Affordable Art Fair - Exhibited by Asterisk Projects - New York, NY —2014
Convergence - 808 Gallery - Boston, MA —2014
Affordable Art Fair - Exhibited by Asterisk Projects - New York, NY —2013
Neo/Geo: New Perspectives in Geometric Abstraction - Christopher Martin Gallery - Dallas, TX —2013
Flat File Boston Spring Salon - Boston, MA —2012
Beyond the Body - LIVAPENART - Aspen, CO —2012
Off the Wall - Danforth Museum of Art - Framingham, MA —2012
NKG National Juried 2012 - NK Gallery - Boston, MA —2012
Junk or Genius - Gallore Gallery - Middletown, CT —2012
Supersymmetry - Horowitz Performing arts Center - Saxtons River, VT —2012
Energy As Currency - LIVASPENART - Aspen, CO —2011
New Talent - Alpha Gallery - Boston, MA —2011
Gibson House Museum - Boston, MA —2011
Boston Young Contemporaries - Boston, MA —2011
Repercussions of Color, Space and Line, All and Nothing - LIVASPENART - Aspen, CO —2011
Off the Wall - Danforth Museum - Framingham, MA —2011
MFA Thesis Exhibition - Boston University - Boston, MA —2011
Commonwealth Gallery Exhibition - Boston University - Boston MA —2011
Boston Young Contemporaries Juried Exhibition - Boston, MA —2011
Bridge Art Fair: Wynwood Invitational - Miami, FL —2011
Big N Bold - Aspen Chapel Gallery - Group Exhibition - Aspen, CO —2011
LIVASPENART - Group Exhibition - Aspen, CO —2011
Anderson Ranch Resident Artist Exhibition - Snowmass Village, CO —2011
Skidmore College Senior Thesis Exhibition - Saratoga Springs, NY —2007
