Michael Rosenthal Gallery: Mathew Zefeldt

01/10/2012

With fewer than ten large-scale, multiple layered acrylic paintings, artist Mathew Zefeldt‘s first solo show at Michael Rosenthal Gallery makes a significant aesthetic impact.

Zefeldt’s works are evidently time-consuming, with multiple processes of background and foreground layering, canvas on canvas collage, and color mapping. The result of which are bold, abstracted works with bursts of vibrant colors exacerbated by solid geometric shapes juxtaposed with statue-like heads of Grecian philosophers within a Euclidean space. Yet within every painting, these vibrant colors either amass like piles of waste and/or run as gooey droplets into each other amid a dizzying background. The paintings are an effective commentary upon the foundational elements of painting and the difficult, almost defeating task of rendering three-dimensional objects on a two-dimensional surface.

Zefeldt received his MFA in Studio Art from UC Davis this year; this is his third solo show within the past three years and fifth time exhibting in San Francisco. Zefeldt’s paintings were also selected for inclusion at the Pro Arts Juried Annual show, currently on view in Oakland.

Mathew Zefeldt’s paintings are at Michael Rosenthal Gallery through February 19, 2012.