MATTHEW CRAVEN
NETWORK

September 26 to November 10, 2019

Ampersand is pleased to present NETWORK, an exhibition of new drawings by Matthew Craven. At its most literal, the show title references exactly what we see, complex drawings rooted in a grid of intersecting horizontal and vertical lines. It's a base language from which an infinite number of visual arrangements can be made. The word network also alludes to a key component in Craven's work, his dedicated research into the symbology of antiquity and traditional textiles, the interconnection of the found images he has collected over the years and regularly collages into his drawings. One system connected to a long history of others, his own sense for pattern and color orbiting iconic imagery from the past. It's important to emphasize, however, that NETWORK represents the first time Craven has exhibited drawings only, works that do not include elements of collage. "My work has always been initially informed by found images cut from historical textbooks," he notes, "but this body of work relies instead on my recollection of such symbols, engravings, sculptures, et cetera. All of the drawings were made from muscle memory and done intuitively with no reference to any specific source material. Trusting my ability to create new patterns from simple shapes. Turning structured grids into intuitive organic symmetry." This self-imposed restriction may seem novel at first but it focuses our attention on another key network, one that is most essential, the singular connection between the language of Craven's brain and the muscles in his hand—a connection that creates drawings immediately recognizable as uniquely his own.

Matthew Craven lives and works in Los Angeles, California. He received his MFA from The School of Visual Arts, New York. His work has been widely exhibited in solo and group exhibitions, including Lifelines here at Ampersand and EMPIRE(s) at Asya Geisberg Gallery in New York. His first monograph, Primer, was published in 2018 by Anthology Editions, as was PATTERN NO. 3, published by our gallery imprint and available to purchase here. Craven was recently among four resident artists at Tilleard Projects in Lamu Island, Kenya. Select works made during the residency are featured in NETWORK.

Available Works