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The gallery carves another notch in the history of art with the first retrospective of paintings by Matt Lamb. Dating from 1990, the show includes 26 of the self-taught artist’s expressionistic oils. The later works, particularly the large animal paintings, are superb examples of Lamb at his best: astonishing painterly effects and deep glazing from his unique use of blowtorch and other unorthodox techniques.
Click here to see the gallery installation.
Click here to read the exhibition's press release. |
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The most recent
developments in the evolution of Matt Lamb's
paintings are expressionistic abstractions.
Inspired by sections of his highly successful
series of works depicting various creatures
of his imagination, the abstract series has
become another of the self-taught artist’s
accomplishments. Their impastoed, coruscating
surfaces, achieved by blowtorch, wire brush
and other personally developed techniques,
achieve an extraordinary depth of color and
dynamic sense of movement. Click here to
see the artwork. |
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One of the
most significant aspects of this Irish
American Artist's oeuvre is his amazing
panoply of creatures. According to art
historian Dr. Carol Damian, “These
visionary images express a myriad of ideas
as they metamorphosize from plant to animal
to human to spiritual levels of existence...
they become the vehicles of his exploration
into such themes as duality, harmony, life
and death, the environment, the cosmos,
and social injustice...In fragmented narratives,
they bring his life’s experiences,
with their endless quandaries, to light.”
Click here to
see the artwork. |
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People, animals,
flowers: for Matt Lamb, a self-taught artist;
they are all as one, in the sense that
all are living organisms produced by an
all-powerful, loving creator. His bouquets
of flowers hold a particular significance: “My
work is about the spirit, life, death,
resurrection and how we react as people
to the events that are brought to our attention.
With the information that we receive we
can be sad and glad, joyful, sorrowful,
harsh and pleasurable all at the same time.” Click here to
see the artwork. |
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One of Matt
Lamb's
single figures features outstretched arms,
symbolizing the artist’s belief that
we all should love one another. An Indian
chief suggests an ideal world in which
man is in harmony with unspoiled nature.
The Irish American artist adds, however,
that the Indian’s
innocence is only a cultural stereotype
that must be confronted if we are to be
self-aware, and that his image confronts
viewers to become explorers of their own
cultural consciousness.
Click here to
see the artwork. |
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The various figures
in his paintings—the artist refers
to them as “spirits” — are
as real to him as anyone. “You can
call them ghosts or you can call them angels,
I call them spirits. The figures are everyone
and no one, they are contemporary and from
the ages of time...My art is an exploration
into that great unexplored region we call
the subconscious,” Matt Lamb states. In
the words of Georgia O’Keefe, “I
found I could say things with color and shapes
that I couldn’t say any other way–things
I had no words for.” Click here to
see the artwork. |
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One of the other
symbols often found in Matt Lamb’s paintings
include umbrellas, representing a sheltering
home of peace, tolerance, understanding and
hope. “All the graces of heaven flow
under the umbrella, all we have to do is
stand under it and receive,” Matt Lamb
explains. Another is a ladder, indicating
the challenge to do one’s best, to
exert one’s
greatest effort. A top hat symbolizes a crown,
suggesting a spiritual leader. Structures
with various religious symbols remind us
of Lamb’s
themes: life, death, and rebirth.
Click here to
see the artwork. |
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