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MATTHEW CRAVEN

TIMES GONE BY

March 31 – May 7, 2022

Works on paper by Matthew Craven

Matthew Craven

DREAM//CATCHER 1., 2022

Ink on found poster

60h x 40w in
152.40h x 101.60w cm

MC172-wop

Works on paper by Matthew Craven

Matthew Craven

LAST MINUTES OF MEMORY., 2022

Ink on found poster

54.75h x 35w in
139.07h x 88.90w cm

MC177-wop

Works on paper by Matthew Craven

Matthew Craven

FATE OF THE FLAG-BEARER., 2022

Ink on found paper

40h x 53.75w in
101.60h x 136.53w cm

MC175-wop

Works on paper by Matthew Craven

Matthew Craven

ADDORNED., 2020

Ink on found poster

44h x 34w in
111.76h x 86.36w cm

MC164-wop

Works on paper by Matthew Craven

Matthew Craven

EMERGE., 2020

Ink on found poster

60h x 40w in
152.40h x 101.60w cm

MC168-wop

Works on paper by Matthew Craven

Matthew Craven

MORTAL()COIL., 2022

Ink on found poster

48h x 38.75w in
121.92h x 98.43w cm

MC174-wop

Works on paper by Matthew Craven

Matthew Craven

TEMPLE. (TOTEM), 2021

Ink on found paper

60h x 40w in
152.40h x 101.60w cm

MC171-wop

Works on paper by Matthew Craven

Matthew Craven

CLOISTER. (TOTEM), 2021

Ink on found paper

60h x 40w in
152.40h x 101.60w cm

MC170-wop

Work on paper by Matthew Craven

Matthew Craven

EXPO., 2022

Ink on found poster

28h x 22w in
71.12h x 55.88w cm

Framed: 30h x 24w x 1.50d in
76.20h x 60.96w x 3.81d cm

MC179-wop

Works on paper by Matthew Craven

Matthew Craven

SHAPE~SHiFT., 2022

Ink on found paper

40h x 30w in
101.60h x 76.20w cm

MC173-wop

Works on paper by Matthew Craven

Matthew Craven

FUTURE//FORWARD., 2020

Ink and found images on found poster

40h x 30w in
101.60h x 76.20w cm

MC160-wop

Press Release

Asya Geisberg Gallery is pleased to present our third exhibition of works on paper by Matthew Craven, “TIMES GONE BY.” Craven has long been interested in the universality of symbols and patterns, referencing textiles, painted pottery, and mosaics from across the world. New elements have emerged, taken from flags and pennants, old cross stitch patterns, and most intriguingly, organic shapes and flowers. Setting aside the artist’s frequent use of vintage collage elements, the large pieces in this show are bursting with a dizzying array of patterns and colors. Entirely hand drawn, the pixel-like squares that make up the designs are now smaller in scale, radiating from a center point and morphing to build organic structures within the ever-present grid. The backs of vintage B-movie posters still form each work’s foundation, browned, stained or torn from a previous life. Where before the artist drew inspiration from travel and in-person visits to book shops and museums, strict lockdown orders and a relocation have turned his references inward. The prismatic works in this show are a journey into pattern gone awry, the laborious and time consuming process of their creation a kind of meditation.

While the composition of some works recalls actual carpets or textiles with their framing and symmetry, Craven now actively disrupts these expectations in other works - as if the weaver has a bug in the program. The radiating center of “MORTAL()COIL.” has a magnetic pull to it, reminiscent of a mandala, a portal, an acid dream or a kaleidoscopic Louis Wain cat. In “EMERGE.”, seemingly orderly patterns fragment and overlap, cut short and then skipping across the page to march on in some further spot, as though jumping through time. Flowers bloom in “LAST MINUTES OF MEMORY.”, bleeding over Greek keys and breaking up patterns like weeds in a sidewalk.

Craven has built a visual language that is both instantly recognizable and tantalizingly obscured. These pieces contain a kind of alchemy, a spell built by symbols morphed and intertwined, ingredients taken from the lexicon of visual human experience. The titles of the new works - specifically TEMPLE., ALTER. and CLOISTER. - allude to the act of spiritual introspection. “While my head felt cluttered during the pandemic, creating these drawings was a release for me. I let the imagery come to my mind's eye in a stream of consciousness. Meditative drawings in the middle of a mad world.”