Matt Connors

Matt Connors works with abstraction and minimalism but also draws upon the history of painting and processes. His canvases are influenced by an evolving list of artists, designers, as well as writers, filmmakers and musicians, often taking inspiration from the modernist canon. His approach, however, remains resolutely contemporary in both method and conception. Using raw canvas, he pours layers of paint into the fabric, similar to a process of dyeing, and often takes rubbings from his studio floor or imprints one wet canvas onto another. His paintings are remarkable for the apparent thinness of their surfaces; pigment seeps in to create immersive, prismatic fields. The final works act as both pictures and objects, registering the texture of the surface, the support, or things close at hand in his studio as well as unexpected densities of colour and composition. He often works in series during making, but presents completed work as autonomous presentations in which a lively dialogue is established between repetition and variations in colours, form, style, material, and meaning. They provide a visual means of relating to the world and explore questions, problems, and problem-solving, contemplating a range of propositions rather than assertions or solutions.