Matthew Brannon Tatum oNeals Birthday Party

Kevin Bruk Gallery is pleased to announce a solo exhibition by New York based artist Matthew Brannon. Inspired by all things promotional, peripheral & removed from their original source Brannon has produced a series of silkscreened posters and three large tapestries. Both works satellite dual themes of decadence vs. pessimism & décor vs. power. Like the friends at the end of a long party approaching dawn the relationship between the works is both accidental and poetic.

Looking for historical precedents and personalities that have influenced his life and work, Brannon draws upon such bitter to the end characters as philosopher Arthur Schopenhauer and writer Joris-Karl Huysmans, deviant instigators for whom surface equals meaning as filmmaker Douglas Sirk and musicians Steely Dan. The use of Tatum O’Neal’s name is an abstract gesture meant to suggest a classic tale of beauty and talent preyed upon by an unforgiving and aggressive industry.

The exhibition will include a series of mock haunted house film posters each silkscreened on a foil paper. The artist uses the haunted house film structure – believers and skeptics navigating and recording the psychic terrors of a space – to suggest the role of the artist. A delicate balance agreed upon and debated by a select community. The posters are largely abstract and are related to a larger body of work which includes the mimicry and appropriation of different printed matter from movie posters to Chinese take out menus.

Brannon will also include new tapestries. Originally conceived as backdrops to the fictional films he makes the prints for, they now have developed their own distinct language. Resting loosely between painting and decoration proper they speak of nature removed and domesticated. Referencing Chinese wall paper commissioned by Europe at the previous turn of the century.

Brannon (b. 1971 Idaho) lives and works in New York City as an artist and graphic designer. Often asked to design posters for friends exhibitions he has invited Sarah Morris (who in turn invited graphic artist Richard Massey) to create the “Tatum O’Neal’s Birthday Party” poster. He is also currently in “Parking Lot” at Ten in One Gallery and Robert Nickas’s “The Melvins” exhibit at Anton Kern Gallery in New York City.

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Matthew Brannon "Tatum o'Neal's Birthday Party"