Matthew Stone Optimism As Cultural Rebellion
The Hole November 1-December 10
In his new show Matthew Stone reinvigorates the tiresome and painfully ubiquitous photograph of the nude youth with a collection of stunning three-dimensional prints.
It is difficult to say into which medium these works best fit. When I first saw the pieces, covertly gazing through the window the night they were being installed, I thought for sure they had to be paintings. I thought, “Their reference to classical painting seems unmistakable. And after all they were printed on wood and silk so even though they look like photos it’s seems quite unlikely.” It wasn’t until the opening the following night where I was able to realize my private embarrassment. They were in fact photos exquisitely rendered on plywood and cloth. Some were affixed with hinges to mold around corners, some strewn on low tables, and others conventionally hung but with excitingly unconventional dimensions. How could I have just assumed they were paintings? At first I felt utterly uncouth, but then I wondered if perhaps that was the inexplicable power of these pieces: their allure came from their initial, exciting mystery.
What I found to be equally endearing was that, however beautiful, the imagery is nothing we haven’t seen before. They are mostly all photos of nudes lying on top of one another, writhing and pawing at each other, supple skin stretching over muscle etc. So I have to say, had these been traditionally presented as c-prints in frames I’m not sure I would be writing about this work. And in fact I’m not sure this artist would even have a show at this space. This work is powerful to me because the artist respects the viewer enough not to bore us. He doesn’t rest on his haunches. He works hard to create something dynamic and new. This work seems to bring together all of Stone’s sensibilities and inaugurate an entirely new and beautiful framework from which to understand and appreciate the human form.
Kelley Losier
