Matthew Couper, Limbo Of The Journeyman, 3-25 Jan 2014

Limbo Of The Journeyman

3-25 Jan 2014

Limbo of the Journeyman centers around a large oil painting on loose canvas of the same title, painted in the artist’s Las Vegas studio. It continues Couper’s interest in developing art as a ‘cultural currency’ while showing autobiographical features of his life in the USA and his ongoing dialogue and relationship to anachronistic art practices. Couper’s association with the notion of a journeyman (the artistic development between an apprentice and a master) is brought to the fore, singling out his context, journey – both physically and intellectually – and the trials and tribulations of his career path since immigrating to the USA in 2010. 

Accompanying the large oil painting are several new examples of Couper’s now-familiar Spanish-Colonial-based paintings on metal, canvas and a series of objects relating to the refuse of an artist’s practice – empty solvent cans, burnt-out incandescent bulbs and empty paint tubes. These works act as physical ephemera, usually cast aside, but now recycled and transformed into precious objects. ‘…These dark subjects are depicted with the objectivity of an outsider, but there are no solutions, no excuses — it’s more of a recap of the current state of affairs. Mixed with the artist’s experiences and survival struggles in both Las Vegas and New Zealand, the works function as elaborate journal entries.’ - art critic Jenessa Kenway. (Las Vegas CityLife). 

Viewers familiar with Couper’s art practice will be able to see new artworks en masse relating to recent art works and exhibitions The Auckland Art Fair at the Cloud in Auckland, Recent Devotional Paintings, a survey exhibition curated by US art writer John Seed at The Quad Gallery, Riverside, California, USA; and his touring exhibition Thirty-Three, currently on display at The Tauranga Art Gallery, Tauranga.