Our February Show: Good Intentions: Paintings by Laura Wacha

Laura Wacha, Good Intentions, Acrylic on canvas, 32 x 54”

There's something slightly familiar, maybe alarming, and vastly entertaining about Laura Wacha's paintings. She offers up a cast of characters that seem completely fanciful and off the wall, until you suddenly realize that you know this person, or maybe you even are this person, this stretched, lurid, and magnificently exhausted individual. And that one sort of reminds me of my neighbor... And oh jeez, this guy is just like my dad...

Laura brings to vivid life the mundane, everyday indignities we all have to ignore now and again just to keep our heads in the game. And she does it with packed compositions, kaleidoscope colors, and brushstrokes that are so complete and self-assured that you don't even know that they're there.

Combine all of that with her, ummm...unconventional embroideries, and polymer clay figurines--action figures for the apocalypse--and what we are given promises to be one of the most delightful, surprising, and sardonic shows you will encounter this year.

Exhibition dates: February 1 – March 1
First Friday Artscrawl Reception: February 1, 5 – 8:00 PM
Gallery Talk by Laura Wacha: Saturday, February 23, 1 – 2 PM

Laura Wacha, Vernal Violation, Acrylic on canvas, 20 x 32"

Gallery Talk next Saturday, January 19th. Don't Miss David Koch!

image: David Koch, Warm (detail), acrylic on canvas, 20 x 18"

David Koch's cool, mildly self-deprecating paintings are like Victorian still-lifes blown into pieces and piled back together atop fields of suggestive and subtle color. The treatments are precise and elegant, while the subjects and concoctions are immediate and laughably sharp.

David Koch will discuss his recent work and the world of contemporary Pop Art. 1:00 PM on Saturday, the 19th of January, right here at Matrix Fine Art. The talk is free and the general public is not only welcome, but is the very target audience. Come!

image: David Koch, Good, acrylic on canvas, 20 x 18"

Aaron Karp and Kuzana Ogg in upcoming shows

The Albuquerque Museum of Art and History will be showing Aaron Karp's "Bemis Grids," works that he completed while a resident artist at the Bemis Center for Contemporary Arts in Omaha, from February 10-April 20th of this year. The paintings, uncharacteristically small for Karp, still utilize his bold palette and almost gestural optics. This promises to be a racy exhibition. We all look forward to it!
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In other Martrix artists' news, Kuzana Ogg's piece Mangoes in the Morning has been accepted into Erasing Borders: Passport to Contemporary Indian Art of the Diaspora.

From their website: "The exhibition, Erasing Borders: Passport to Contemporary Indian Art of the Diaspora explores the contributions of artists whose origins can be traced to the Indian Subcontinent...The artists in this exhibition will meld Indian and Western colors and forms in many media, namely painting, sculpture, and photography. They will also grapple with diverse subject matter, including: AIDS, poverty, identity as a South Asian living in the post-9/11 world, in addition to their religious, sexual, and ethnic identities.
The exhibition will travel in California and throughout the greater NYC area, from February to October, 2008.

January Show: Pop Art NOW, opening January 4th, 2008, 5pm

Johnny Taylor, Lorem Ipsum III, 36 x 48", Acrylic and mixed media on canvas


Pop Art NOW - Paintings by Stacy Hawkinson, David Koch, Johnny Taylor & Sculpture by Ed Haddaway

Exhibition Dates: January 4 - 26, 2008

First Friday Artscrawl Reception and New Year’s Party: January 4, 5 - 8:00 PM.

Drive-in screening of “Cry Baby # 3 – Spectacle” by David Koch during the reception

Matrix Fine Art Gallery Talk: David Koch on pop art and his video Saturday, January 19, 1 - 2 PM


Stacy Hawkinson, Unique Understanding, 20 x 16", Acrylic, latex enamel, and paper on masonite.

November 17 artist lecture

Excerpts from Suzanne B. Stern's lecture on the history of glass.
Come join us for our mid-month artist talks and demonstrations; check out matrixfineart.com/matrixfineart/exhibitions/exhibitions.html for details

Video from First Friday opening event, November 2nd, 2007

A short bit from our opening for Susan Reid and Suzanne B. Stern's work.

Thanks to all of you for coming, and thanks to Susan Reid's son Johnny Walker for the video.

Free Gallery Talk on Cast Glass by Suzanne B. Stern, November 17

Date and Time: Saturday, November 17, 1 – 2 PM.

In conjunction with The Garden of the 12th House – Glass and Metal Sculpture by Suzanne B. Stern.

Suzanne Stern is an international exhibited glass and metal artist. She will be speaking on the history of cast glass, focusing on its revival in 19th century France known as Pate-de-Verre. She will illustrate the technique's contemporary use through slides of her work and a demonstration of her process.

Suzanne's sculptures will remain on display in our North Gallery until December 1.

Gallery hours: Tuesday 10 - 4, Wednesday - Sunday, 9 - 6
Contact person: Regina Held, 268-8952

Location: 3812 Central Ave. SE.- 2.5 blocks east of Carlisle between Solano and Aliso next to New Grounds Print Workshop & Gallery.

Website: http://matrixfineart.com/

Judith Rauchfuss Fashion Show

One of our more unusual and amusing events took place on October 20th, 2007. With Judith Rauchfuss as one of the featured artists in our North Gallery, we decided that instead of a gallery talk we should have a fashion show. Judith agreed and we all began looking for women to walk the runway.

The results were fantastic, with 11 models, one escort, and one gracious and talented artist/designer all draped in silk, lace, velvet, and jewels.

Here are some pictures of the day's event.

Welcome to Matrix Fine Art

Matrix Fine Art features established and emerging New Mexico
artists working in painting, ceramic, glass, sculpture, and photography..

We currently represent the work of twenty five different artists from around New Mexico. Matrix is a gallery for contemporary art and carries a very broad range of art styles and media. On our walls and pedestals a client will find works both by New Mexico househould names artists and by relative unknowns.

The landscapes of Frank McCulloch and Russell Hamilton hang next to the
electrifying abstracts of Aaron Karp and the aboriginal-inspired spirals of
Susan Reid.

Color-blasting pop art by the likes of Laura Wacha, David Koch, and Stacy Hawkinson, and Johnny Taylor hang across the room Katrina Lasko's imposing slabs of lead punctuated by rope, stucco, and wire.

Crawling, biomorphic concoctions by Nick Abdalla and terra cotta earth tounges by Sara D'Alessandro complement architectural light pieces by Larry Pelak and the woven metal sculptures of John Garrett.

Leo Neufeld's figures gaze, as Emily Torvillion's idols glance; Iva Morris's characters peer, while Deborah Donelson's women glare. Mary Zaremba's photographs of drying fruits and flowers disdain the lush watery pondscapes painted by Jane Abrams.

Fiery landscapes, old-master figures, and elegant abstracts of mango trees were all recently brought to New Mexico by Collins Redman, Rodney Wood, and Kuzana Ogg.

Glowing cast glass by Suzanne Stern and deeply toned ceramics by Archer Dougherty hang near the painted masks of Judith Rauchfuss and the masked paintings of Maximilliano Pruneda.

With twelve exhibitions a year, monthly gallery talks and the occasional fashion show we entertain, educate, decorate and enrich, all while promoting New Mexico's artistic diversity. Matrix has works that will appeal to anyone, from the first time buyer to the established collector.