Matt Rich: Fat Flat

01/20/18 — 03/01/18

For its inaugural show, Appendix presents Fat Flat, a series of gouache paintings on paper and painted wood sculptures by Matt Rich.

The work depicts a wide range of forms to create layered spaces, including:

overlapping bulbous orbs
woven white “X” forms
striped fences
tulip petals or squinting eyes
sideways I’s
purple helmet hair
glowing red circles
3D keyholes
yellow pubes
a bit of succulent theatre
animated potatoes
green quarter-moons.

Filling the whole page with color or describing a distinct form against a field of white paper, these compositions borrow from Rich’s collage process used in his cut paper and canvas paintings. Similarly, the sculptures in the show overlay painterly materials and language onto three-dimensional forms to amplify or contradict illusory space.

Matt Rich received an MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, a BA from Brown University and attended the Skowhegan School of Painting and Sculpture. Rich’s work has been exhibited in venues such as the Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston, MA; The Athenaeum, La Jolla, CA; BravinLee Programs and DODGEGallery in New York, NY; Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, Kansas City, MO; Columbus College of Art + Design, Columbus, OH; among others. His solo exhibitions include Halsey McKay Gallery in East Hampton, NY; Project Row Houses in Houston, TX; devening projects in Chicago, IL; Samsøn in Boston, MA; and The Suburban in Oak Park, IL. Rich’s work has been reviewed by Modern Painters, Artforum and Art Papers.