The Matta Project

entrecomics: (Jack Kirby & John Verpoorten) Mainstream...

Mon, 29 Apr 2013 00:27:31 +0200

entrecomics:

(Jack Kirby & John Verpoorten)

Mainstream comics, circa 197x.
Viva Kirby.

“L’onda m’onda” 1999 (99/30)240 x...

Fri, 11 Nov 2011 08:18:49 +0100

“L’onda m’onda”

1999 (99/30)
240 x 315 cm.

Que lo cumplas, viejito.

Banale de Venise1956204.5 x 305.5 cmGeneva

Sun, 11 Sep 2011 12:13:17 +0200

Banale de Venise
1956
204.5 x 305.5 cm
Geneva

Pollock Painting

Sun, 27 Feb 2011 00:00:00 +0100

Pollock Painting:

Pollock Painting
1951
Hans Namuth and Paul Falkenberg (directors), Morton Feldman (composer)

Via Ubu.com

Concerto Grosso1973203 x 292 cm Not sure of what this one...

Sat, 26 Feb 2011 00:00:00 +0100

Concerto Grosso
1973
203 x 292 cm

Not sure of what this one was painted on. From the texture it looks like pigments over earth and jute like his 1971 Chilean works, but I have no sources to check this on.

El IVAM descubre "los mundos inabarcables" de Matta

Fri, 25 Feb 2011 00:00:00 +0100

El IVAM descubre "los mundos inabarcables" de Matta:

“Ahora, salen a la luz 32 trabajos —varios de gran formato—, muchos de los cuales no se han exhibido en años y otros ni siquiera se habían mostrado al público. El recorrido abarca desde las obreras de la primera etapa hasta las que realizó pocos años antes de morir.

Roberto Matta es, sin duda, un nombre clave en la historia del arte del siglo XX y, aunque así figura en todas los manuales, se ha subrayado su etapa de juventud, cuando se relacionó con Dalí, Breton y García Lorca, mientras que su trabajo posterior ha pasado algo más desapercibido, ha explicado Ignacio Ollero.

Y eso a pesar de que el chileno —el primer artista sudamericano que ocupó un papel central en la vanguardia internacional— fue el enlace entre la corriente surrealista y los jóvenes artistas de la Escuela de Nueva York, como Robert Motherwell, Jackson Pollock, Arshile Gorky o William Baziotes.”

Je m’arche1949193.7 x 139.7 cmSmart Museum of Art,...

Thu, 24 Feb 2011 00:00:00 +0100

Je m’arche
1949
193.7 x 139.7 cm
Smart Museum of Art, Univ. of Chicago

Je m’honte1948-9 (49/3)195.5 x 142.2 cmMenil...

Wed, 23 Feb 2011 00:00:00 +0100

Je m’honte
1948-9 (49/3)
195.5 x 142.2 cm
Menil Collection, Houston, TX

Draws directly from Duchamp’s wordplay

Marcel Duchamp - Tu m’Oil and pencil on canvas with bottle...

Tue, 22 Feb 2011 00:00:00 +0100

Marcel Duchamp - Tu m’
Oil and pencil on canvas with bottle brush, three safety pins, one bolt.
69.8 x 313 cm
New Haven, Yale Univ. Art Gallery.
Gift from the estate of Katherine S. Dreier

Besides the visual influence Duchamp had on Matta and the many philosophical/theorical influences, an influence that cannot be ignored is that of Duchamp’s wordplay.

An in-depth, one-hour, career-spanning, video interview with Marcel Duchamp from 1963

Mon, 21 Feb 2011 00:00:00 +0100

An in-depth, one-hour, career-spanning, video interview with Marcel Duchamp from 1963:

Thank you, Ubu dot com.

Caption: Photo of the artists exhibiting in the Artists in...

Sun, 20 Feb 2011 00:00:00 +0100

Caption:

Photo of the artists exhibiting in the Artists in Exile show at the Pierre Matisse Gallery, New York, March 1942. Left to right, first row: Matta, Ossip Zadkine, Yves Tanguy, Max Ernst, Marc Chagall, Fernand Léger; second row: André Breton, Piet Mondrian, André Masson, Amedée Ozenfant, Jacques Lipchier, Pavel Tchelitchev, Kurt Seligman, Eugene Berman. Photograph by George Platt Lynes.

I love this picture.

Max Ernst - Surrealism and Painting1942, oil on canvas195.6 x...

Sat, 19 Feb 2011 00:00:00 +0100

Max Ernst - Surrealism and Painting
1942, oil on canvas
195.6 x 233.7 cm
The Menil collection, Houston

It goes without saying that at the time of this painting Ernst was living in New York among the Surrealists in exile, married to Peggy Guggenheim. Notice the colours and informal linework of the painting-within-the-painting.

Max Ernst - Loplop introduces a young girl1930, oil, plaster and...

Fri, 18 Feb 2011 00:00:00 +0100

Max Ernst - Loplop introduces a young girl
1930, oil, plaster and various materials on wood
Musée National d’Art Moderne, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris

Ernst’s Loplop was an example of the use of figurative characters in an abstract/informal context. The bird-like figure is the artist’s familiar, in the same way as in Matta the Great Transparents are embodiments of larger concepts.

17. Les EtoilesLitograph1945One of four tarot cards/bookplates...

Thu, 17 Feb 2011 23:57:00 +0100

17. Les Etoiles
Litograph
1945
One of four tarot cards/bookplates for André Breton’s 1945 first printing of Arcane 17

Arcane 17 is the peak of the Matta/Breton collaboration. These simple “tarot cards” contain simplifications many of the visual themes Matta was pursuing in that period.

Source here.

Artitude: Roberto Matta

Wed, 16 Feb 2011 22:41:37 +0100

Artitude: Roberto Matta:

An article a friend of mine published yesterday, quite coincidentally. An excellent introduction for italian speakers.

Les antimyth de Cibèle1981 (81/34)300 x 200 cm Mito y...

Tue, 15 Feb 2011 00:00:00 +0100

Les antimyth de Cibèle
1981 (81/34)
300 x 200 cm

Mito y anti-mito.

from youtube: This interview to the Ex-Brigadista of the Ramona...

Mon, 14 Feb 2011 00:00:00 +0100

from youtube:

This interview to the Ex-Brigadista of the Ramona Parra: Alejandro ‘Mono’ González; was conducted by the journalist Mónica Rincón of the channel TVN-Nacional Television of Chile on November 10, 2006 (one day before the birthday of Roberto Matta). This happened minutes after the end of the “1st Seminar - Roberto Matta and La Granja: The Reunion”, which was organized by the Municipality of La Granja.
Alejandro ‘Mono’ Gonzalez collaborated in the development of Mural of Roberto Matta as a member of the Brigade Ramona Parra, in November 1971. The Brigade in that time developed -in the outlying towns of Santiago de Chile- an art muralist politically committed to the yearnings of the people. Matta wanted with the help of them to make the Mural entitled: “The First Goal of the Chilean Town” in the Commune of La Granja.

My-Tology1980 (80/0)410 x 550 cmprivate collection, Italy.

Sun, 13 Feb 2011 00:00:00 +0100

My-Tology
1980 (80/0)
410 x 550 cm
private collection, Italy.

Le Poète (Un poète de notre connaissance)1945 (45/1)94 x...

Sat, 12 Feb 2011 16:14:49 +0100

Le Poète (Un poète de notre connaissance)
1945 (45/1)
94 x 76.5 cm
Private collection

André Breton (pictured above) was in a similar situation to Matta’s, creating new mythologies and totem animals in Les Grandes Transparents. One of Matta’s was Breton himself.

Science, conscience et patience du Vitreur1944 (44/17)200 x...

Fri, 11 Feb 2011 00:00:00 +0100

Science, conscience et patience du Vitreur
1944 (44/17)
200 x 450 cm
Private collection, New York.

Matta’s much-criticized “return” to figurative painting was actually an embracing of primitivism, fitting perfectly within the roots of surrealism. It was also a respectful nod to North and South American precolumbian imagery, a natural consequence to his relocation in those areas.