Do you want to learn more about Kim Matthews’ art?
The Glow of Love, the newest show by Kim Matthews just opened on artsy.net. There is such joy in the work as Kim takes us back to a sweet time of bubble gum songs and pop art references! The colors are bright, shimmering with nostalgia…in a good way.
A particular characteristic of Kim’s artwork is the importance of the object! It’s not just that she is a sculptor, but that she believes in and practices the “work of the hand.” These are not machine-made objects with slick finishes. They are clearly made by someone. Nor are they mere suggestions of ideas, dematerialized to little more than a set of instructions or a gesture. Kim Matthews produces fully realized, mysterious objects that invite us to look closely and to ponder.
Kim comes by this interest in objects naturally. While growing up in Maine, her parents worked with an auctioneer in the summers. This brought a steady stream of bizarre objects through the hands of the young Matthews, objects that would form a deep bond with her over the years. Combined with the ever-present rhythm and expanse of the ocean, we can see the foundation for her artistic career that now spans decades.
Interview Published On Al-tiba9.com
In a recent interview published on the Al-tiba9 website (https://www.altiba9.com/artist-interviews/kim-matthews-pop-sculpture), Matthews discusses her long-standing love of objects as containers of history and intention, describing art making as a complementary discipline of devotion to her long-term meditation practice that invites the viewer into the work and toward introspection through her highly tactile surfaces.
Meet Kim Matthews
Matthews has exhibited across the United States in numerous selected group exhibits, and she made her international debut with a 2017 appearance in Ukraine. She has also appeared in dozens of one and two-person exhibitions across the Midwest and Pacific Northwest. Her work has won multiple awards, including a recent Merit award from the Gainesville Fine Arts Association.
A Minneapolis-based artist, Matthews uses these sometimes-cryptic objects as pathways into a meditative frame of mind. Not unlike the yantra designs used in Tantric practice, these works present brightly colored patterns, only now spread over a three-dimensional body. Like yantras, they are meant to promote a change inside the viewer. Though a yantra might place someone on a very specific road, Matthews has repeatedly expressed a desire to allow the viewer to find the way themselves.
And the work does all of this with humor and an immersive sense of joy.
The Glow of Love at Susan Hensel Gallery
The Glow of Love delivers this balanced approach to color and form to the Susan Hensel Gallery from September 15 to November 15, 2022. Additionally, The Glow of Love continues Matthews’ ongoing search for “objectness” in an artistic practice that doubles as a spiritual pursuit for introspection and connection.
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