Matthew Palladino

“ PLASTIC / PAPER ”

19 Oct - 18 Nov 2017


AISHONANZUKA is pleased to announce the solo exhibition “PLASTIC/PAPER” by American artist Matthew Palladino (b.1985) from 19th October to 30th November, 2017. We are pleased to have his first exhibition in Hong Kong and Asia.

Born in San Francisco in 1985, Mattew Palladino studied painting at the California College of the Arts. He lives and works in New York. He has had solo exhibitions at Eli Ridgway Gallery (2011, San Francisco, America), Garth Greenan Gallery (2014, New York, America) and Retrospective Gallery (2015, Hudson, America). His work was acquired by the Whitney Museum of American Art. Matthew Palladino continues his exploration of his two main practices: watercolor painting on paper and tree dimensional sculptural reliefs.

In The Plastic series, Palladino continues to explore relief works, a space that exist between painting and sculpture. Inspired by ancient hand carved reliefs as well as mass produced plastic products, the new series follows along the aesthetics of his earlier relief works, having an appearance of vacuum formed plastic. Despite the mass produced appearance, the reliefs are hand finished and meticulously hand painted, each a one of a kind. For this most recent series, the classic mold making process that was used in previous reliefs has been replace with computer aided design programs, as well as 3D scanning and additive manufacturing techniques, thus allowing for new possibilities to explore and push the structure beyond the capabilities of older methods.

In The Paper series, Palladino introduces the viewer to a set of characters as they move through an unending nighttime backdrop. The skeleton, acting as a universal human character, wanders through a lush underworld accompanied by two guides in canine form. The ever present full moon watches down on the three as they search through this unknowable purgatory. The pieces are hand painted on cold pressed watercolor paper with a mix of watercolor and ink, without the use of masking fluid or tape.

The exhibition features a selection of approximately 10 recent works, including watercolor painting  and tree dimensional sculptural reliefs. An opening reception with the artist in attendance will be held on 19th October from 5pm. We look forward to seeing you at our gallery and hope you enjoy the show.