Solo show, a victim of pandemic, finally opens
In the March 6, 2020, issue of The Current, I wrote about an upcoming show, Everything, 2020, by Matthew William Robinson at BAU Gallery in Beacon.
Matthew Robinson with some of his new artwork at Industrial Arts (Photos provided)
“Robinson deconstructs buildings,” I wrote. “He does this on canvas, using string, cut-up magazines, paint and ink, energizing the architecture with new rhythms and spatial dimensions. The structures in his paintings are abstract but take their cues from awnings, tarps or Tyvec or other, more innate features. Some are imagined, others inspired by actual sites. They’re designed so that the elements join with colored pencil lines to create the illusion of depth.”
It was not meant to be. The world shut down instead, and the show was postponed, then canceled. (The 2020 story was called Building with Pieces.)
Last month, Robinson opened a new solo show — his first since the pandemic shut down — at the Industrial Arts Brewing Co. in Beacon. It contains art that would have appeared in the 2020 exhibit but went back into his flat files, as well as new works.
“Conflict,” which was part of the 2020 show, also appears in the new exhibit.
Robinson’s work has been exhibited recently in galleries in the Bronx and New Haven, Connecticut, as well as at Art Port Kingston and Big Mouth Coffee Roasters in Beacon.
“I’m grateful to be able to show work,” he says. “I’ve been making a lot. I’m trying to refine my original vision, getting to the bottom of what makes me make. Showing your work lets you know that you’re communicating effectively, or at all, and that you’re not just speaking to yourself in your studio.”
Industrial Arts, at 511 Fishkill Ave., is open from 2 to 9 p.m. on Thursday and Friday, noon to 9 p.m. on Saturday and noon to 7 p.m. on Sunday.
