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Labels

These large scale paintings are reminiscent of the Abstract Expressionists such as Mark Rothko’s color field painting. Color field painters merged figure and ground. This was a style that attempted to connect modern mysticism to primordial emotions in ancient myth, doing away with the figure.   Appropriating clothing labels to make art is a legitimate form of borrowing or re-contextualization used by artists such as Picasso and Duchamps.  Andy Warhol’s Campbell’s soup labels come to mind. 

Labels-acrylic on canvas

12 x 48

12 x 48

12 x 48

12 x 48

12 x 48

12 x 48

48 x 48

48 x 48

Labels

While I was making these canvas paintings, the meaning of the words were predicting and manifesting synchronistically in my outer life.  The series of paintings seemed to reveal deep inner work.  Along with painting fields of color I was psychologizing: seeing through the words on clothing labels to the underlying poetry that seemed to magically connect to what was happening in my personal life.  While painting “Stretch” my work as a nurse morphed into risky and challenging new opportunities that morphed into even greater opportunities.  “Real Shell Buttons” evolved into “Real Shell” “Real Hell” and “Real” during a time of growth in an interdisciplinary art program.

I happened upon a dead bird, a satisfied cat, then made a self-portrait superimposed on the lost creature, reflecting on the senseless loss.

Here is some recent work, a series of self portraits superimposed on words inspired by kindle reading on a sunny day, with  my image superimposed. 

Cherry Picking Banff Canada

This large acrylic painting, 48x60 inches, was made after spending the summer studying color theory. It hearkens back to cherry picking in Banff, Canada in 1961 after my brother Paul died. I was three years old and remember gorging on the cherries.

New Work

These 11x14 images were made on clayboards, with watercolor and ink. The cherries were from a 1961 camping trip to Banff, Canada at the age of three shortly after my brother Paul died. We went to an orchard to pick cherries; I remember gorging on the cherries.

The self-portrait was inspired by a rare sunny day in Seattle reading a kindle book and seeing my reflection in the glass against the written page.

Leaves Hawaii

Hawaii is a place of significance in my life; as a teenager after graduating from high school, age 18, lived there for nine months. Some of the experiences and decisions made there influenced the course of my life.

In Hawaii I spent a lot of time tying to find a job by reading want ads. There were three columns of available nursing jobs and they paid about ten times more than minimum wage.

During a visit to a friend who gave birth at a local hospital in Wailuku, Maui, looked around at the nurses and thought "I could do this." The hospital was quiet and they weren't dealing with food. I had spent time working in restaurants and didn't want to do that for the rest of my life.

The seed was planted.

Link to website

link to website:

web.me.com/piersonmatthews

Swedish Redmond

 

 

 

Swedish Redmond

 

 

 

 

Swedish Redmond

 

 

 

 

Swedish Redmond

 

 

 

 

Swedish Redmond

 

 

 

 

Swedish Redmond

 

 

 

 

Swedish Redmond