MATTHEW CRAVEN
Head STONE 2016 Ink and found image on found paper 40”x 31”
Stoned Face 2016 Ink and found image on found paper 12”x 9”
Headless 2016 Ink and found image on found paper 20”x 14.5”
Extend 2016 Ink and found image on found paper 12”x 19”
Cluster totem 2016 Ink on found paper 48”x 32.5”
Yellow Jungle 2014 Found book pages on found paper 40”x 30”
Coast 2014 Found book pages on found paper 40”x30”
Tomb Raider II 2014 Ink found images on paper 48” x 32”
Shape//shifter 1-9 2014 Ink on paper 9”x12”
Stare 2013 Mixed media on found paper 54”x40”
MATTHEW CRAVEN
Born in 1981, Lives and Works in New York
Biography
Matthew Craven challenges the sweeping narratives of American history textbooks, appropriating images of historical figures and sites and defacing or reconfiguring them within new aesthetic compositions. In combinations of illustration, collage, and painting, a march of tribal chieftains, Masonic leaders, and American generals and presidents appears in his images, their faces blotted out or colonized by Craven’s trademark geometric patterns. With his surreal mash-ups of historical references composed on antiquated paper, Craven creates his own pared-down symbols and mythologies. Many of Craven’s images are ambiguous, resisting cohesive narratives or easy interpretation; the artist has said that his compositions are not dictated by any political agenda but are based solely on aesthetic consideration.
Solo and Two Person Exhibitions
2015 Solo Booth FMLY Art on Paper Fair, New York, NY
2014 Solo Booth DCKT Volta Art Fair, New York, NY
2013 Get This! Gallery, Atlanta, GA
2013 Oblivious Path, DCKT, New York, NY
2013 Repeater, Popp’s Packing, Detroit, MI
2012 FRGMNTS, Gallery Hijinks, San Francisco, CA
2011 Allegra LaViola, (two-person show with HuskMitNavn) New York, NY
2010 Lordz of the Flyze, Nudashank, Baltimore, MD (two-person show with Julian Duron)
2010 Future Myths, Grizzly Grizzly, Philadelphia, PA
2009 History Is Written By The Winners, Marvelli Gallery, New York, NY (solo show in viewing room)
Selected Group Exhibitions
2014
Share This! Appropriation After Cynicism, Denny Gallery, New York, NY
Ducks! curated by Ryan Travis Christian, Greenpoint Terminal Gallery, Brooklyn, NY
NSFW, Richard Heller Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Graphic Thoughts, CES Contemporary, Los Angeles, CA
Volta Basel with DCKT, Basel, Switzerland
Space/Squared, White Walls, San Francisco
2013
Totems, Asya Geisberg, New York, NY
Mini Galerie, Amsterdam, NE
American Collage, Gerald Peters Gallery, New York, NY
Paper Vernacular, with House of the Nobleman, Cutlog Art Fair, New York, NY
Wider than a Postcard, Breeze Block Gallery, Portland, OR
Atmospheric Pressure, Williamsburg Art & Historical Center, Brooklyn, NY
No Longer Presidents But Prophets, Delicious Spectacle, Washington D.C.
The Scenery Changes Three Times (w/ blonde art books) Schema Projects, Brooklyn, NY
One and Done, LaunchPad, Brooklyn, NY
2012
Strange Lands, (curated by Christopher Daniels) Cindy Rucker Gallery, New York, NY
Fun New Tribe, AAF, New York, NY
Black Foliage (curator) 48 Bowery, New York, NY & Nudashank, Baltimore MDWhere My Cones At? (curated by Ryan Travis Christian) Double Break, San Diego, CA, & POV evolving, Los Angeles, CA Portait of a Generation, The Hole, New York, NY
Whats The Point?, Jen Bekman Gallery, New York, NY
Rising & Falling, Butter Projects, Detroit, MI
In The Corner Of My Eye, Drake Hotel, Toronto, ON
Wise Blood, Field Projects, New York, NY
FreshstART, Los Angeles, CA
2011
PaperChasers, Nudashank, Baltimore, MD
ART toronto w/ DCKT NY, Toronto, ON
Reconstruct/ Deconstruct History, Like the Spice, Brooklyn NY
Nothing Gold Can Stay, Live with Animals, Brooklyn, NY
Shape of the Line, w/ Dunham Place Salon New York, NY
Life Iconic, (curated by Jiha Moon) Get This! Gallery, Atlanta, Ga
2010
re: Context, Number 35. New York, NY
Black and White and Read All Over, NP Contemporary Art Center, New York, NY
Nudashank @ Aqua, Miami, Fl
Plus One, (curated by Dan Cameron) Perry Rubenstein Gallery, New York, NY
Uncommon Commencements, Heather James Fine Art, Palm Desert, CA
American Iconography, (curated by John Friedman) Adam Baumgold Gallery, New York,NY
Highly Decorated, Nudashank @ Fountain, New York, NY
Thank You, But It is Actually on Purpose, (curated by Augusto Arbizo) Visual Arts Gallery,New York, NY
2009
Electric Kool-Aid, Visual Arts Gallery, New York, NY
2008
A Friend Indeed, Katzen Center, American University, Washington D.C.
2005
New Work, (solo) Fine Arts Gallery, College for Creative Studies, Detroit, MI
2004
Administrative Show, Fine Arts Gallery, College for Creative Studies, Detroit, MI
Hit to Death In the Future Head, Gallery 114, Michigan State University, East Lansing,MI
Curatorial Exhibitions
2013 Acid Summer, DCKT New York, NY
2012 Black Foliage, Nudashank, Baltimore, MD
2012 Black Foliage, Chinatown Arcade, New York, NY
Education
2010 MFA School of Visual Arts, New York NY
2004 BFA Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI