Matthew Stone “Unconditional Love” Exhibition and “Muse Control” Performance at the Hole, New York

Unconditional Love introduces Matthew Stone’s lush digitally printed paintings. Stone hand-paints on glass and photographs the resulting compositions. These high-resolution details are then digitally intensified and retouched to remove subjective imperfections, The paint is then printed onto veneered wooden panels, sheet acrylic and mirror. Almost offensively juicy and often steeped in visceral colour, the works upturn the holy status of art history’s worship of “paint handling” and “brushwork” as untouchable cosmic flesh, whilst simultaneously and sincerely reasserting its living legacy of visceral and emotionally manipulative power. “Muse Control” is a new performance piece comprised of a dancer and a video camera operator. The camera operator, closely following the dancer, becomes an unconscious dancer herself. The performance purposely subverts the hierarchy of the traditional creative relationship between image-maker and model or muse, exposing the subtle social negotiations of collaboration crucial to all of Stone’s work. Unconditional Love runs until April 6th at The Hole, New York. Photo Elise Gallant