Embodiment
- January 05, 2023 - January 28, 2023
Frances Matassa: Embodiment at VillageOne Art presents an emotionally charged, technically proficient body of figurative work by the artist. The artist’s paintings recall charged figuration depicted in works by 20th century painters such as Paula Modersohn-Becker and Alice Neel. Matassa paints her subjects in fragments or with hollow stares as they directly face the viewer. Embodiment casts the gaze elsewhere from the subject, augmenting a sense of disconnect between the figure in these paintings and the surrounding environment. Introspective teal hues infuse the picture plane, as natural scenery engulfs the artist’s mostly nude, mostly female figures. Careful layers of oil paints create voluptuous bodies shown fragmented and depicted in unnatural positions.
In considering this body of work, the artist reflects on the visceral potentiality of themes such as alienation, vulnerability and distortion. Bodies on display in these paintings draw the viewer into these realms of perception and unawareness: water moves through a woman’s fingers, while folds of skin tumble toward the corner of a canvas. Questions posed are left unanswered in this quixotic yet intriguing body of work. Painting critic and art historian, Maura Reilly, has observed that the body can be a site for “a sort of physical palette,” and this reflection holds true of Matassa’s tightly choreographed compositions. The role that the body plays as space for psychological contemplation feels potent and immediate in these lush and masterful paintings. A harmonious approach to form, volume, color and space elevate these figures into heightened poetic metaphors for being and non-being. Visitors to Embodiment can embrace the surreal and introspective in equal measure in this show by stunning rising star painter Frances Matassa, on view for the month of January at VillageOne Art in Chelsea.