Matthew Landkammer

Available Works

Recent Exhibitions: Chromophile, August 2005; Strata, January 2004

Holding On To Nothing

Showing March 6-29, 2008

Matthew Landkammer's, new work "Holding on to Nothing" is contemplative and subtle and presented in a range of sizes in acrylic, on panel or canvas. The artist commented: "These works require both time and patience.

"As with my past work, the horizontal banding is meant to create a restful visual field. The slight inconsistencies that betray my hand and the lack of sharp contrast allow the eye to wander across the surface of the painting, never finding purchase. The kernel of reference is to the landscape of the Great Plains where I was raised; however, the resulting composition has become a device in its own right — a simulacrum of the horizon that is meant to evoke the sensation of openness, without direct allusion.

"These works are not minimal. They have more in common with John Cage's 4'33" than they do with Donald Judd." -Matthew Landkammer

Additional Work Available

Each of Matthew Landkammer's subtly-striped, minimal paintings immediately catches the eye with its intense color - red, orange, yellow - essentially monochromatic and deceptively complex. A son of the Great Plains, Landkammer has an affinity for the sweeping vista of the landscape, the broad horizon line and open sky, and he intends the viewer to feel a sense of boundlessness. At their heart, though, these are formal works, at once recalling the mesmerizing intensity of Mark Rothko and the elegant line of Agnes Martin.

Landkammer sums up this body of work by saying, "I see these pieces opening up to the viewer in three stages: First, an immediate retinal impression of an all-over color, almost a retinal shock. Second, as the eyes adjust, a realization of the underlying striations that build the overall color. Third, an emotional reaction to the composition of the horizontal striations, ideally one of calm."