March 9th - April 22nd, 2023
nygallery@winstonwachter.com
Tuesday - Saturday, 10am - 6pm
Matt Gagnon, Lavender & Copper, 2022, Concrete, ash, fabric, painted MDF, acrylic, copper, aluminum, steel and LED, 91½ x 10½ inches
March 9th - April 22nd, 2023
Winston Wächter Fine Art, New York is pleased to announce Feeling Color, an exhibition of light sculptures by Los Angeles based artist, Matt Gagnon. This is the artist’s first solo exhibition with the New York gallery. Trained as an architect, Gagnon is deeply interested in the physicality of materials and their ability to conjure feelings along with memories. These works dig to unearth emotional frequencies of color, material, and texture by combining glass, metal, stone, wood, and concrete. The transformative light of the pieces, built by elements of surface and tone, invite the viewer into their glow.
Matt Gagnon has been creating variations of light forms for decades. His series, Stacks, is inspired by half lit skyscrapers at night that exposed the life inside and allow imagined narratives to be constructed. To create these striking towers, Gagnon layers bands of materials that vary in opacity, seeking moments where they harmonize. The exterior expression of each stack is dependent on the amount of ambient light present. A dark room will display the opaque pieces in the stack as a silhouette against the glow of the translucent pieces. The daytime neutralizes the interior lights and elevates the exterior color and texture. Ultimately, creating a dynamic experience for the viewer.
Continuing on the artist’s interest in challenging the boundaries between interior and exterior, this exhibition debuts Gagnon’s new sculptural works titled, Volcanoes. These pieces explore notions of interiority. Is it safety, warmth and comfort or the unseen, unknowable and hidden away? They are vessels filled with potential, suggesting a notion of mystery and wonder. The rock-like exteriors are filled with a deep saturated light meant to be a visual offering; a moment for contemplation and reflection.
While the practice of architecture is often based on meticulous planning and problem solving, Matt Gagnon works intuitively to put together different material and textures to show the subtle ways that the built environment shapes our lives. Burnt orange may evoke desert landscapes or home interiors of the 1960s, concrete may feel chic and modern or brutalist and industrial. The layered works feel like volcanic core samples, extracted for study from a particular place and time.
Matt Gagnon studied architecture at Cornell University then worked for Gaetano Pesce and Frank Gehry. In 2002. Matt started his own studio in Brooklyn, NY to pursue design and making at all scales. Over the years, Matt has taught design at Otis College of Art and Parsons School of Constructed Environments. He has been invited to speak at Savannah College of Art and Design, Cornell University, Woodbury School of Architecture, City College of New York and University of Central Oklahoma. His work has been featured in publications such as The New York Times, Metropolis, AD Magazine, Surface and Interior Design and has been exhibited internationally. In 2010, Matt moved the studio to Los Angeles.
Matt Gagnon Yellow Glass, 2022
Poplar wood, glass, painted MDF, acrylic, brass, steel, and LED 77 x 10½ inches
Matt Gagnon
Blue Brown, 2022
Oak, painted MDF, acrylic, aluminum, steel, and LED
69½ x 10½ inches
Mortar mix, stones, acrylic, glass, steel, wood armature and LED
30 x 33 x 26 inches
Matt Gagnon Red Volcano, 2023
Concrete, oak, maple, bronze, painted MDF, acrylic, steel and LED 82 x 10½ inches
Matt Gagnon Green & Black, 2022
Matt Gagnon
David, 2023
Poplar wood, bass wood, painted MDF, acrylic, aluminum, steel and LED
55 x 26 inches
Matt Gagnon Ash with Mixed Concrete, 2022
Concrete, ash, painted MDF, acrylic, aluminum, steel and LED 79½ x 10½ inches
Matt Gagnon
Concrete & Brass, 2022
Concrete, poplar wood, brass, aluminum, painted MDF, acrylic, steel and LED
106 x 10½ inches
Matt Gagnon
Mulberry Short, 2021
Mulberry tree base, painted MDF, acrylic, steel and LED
26 x 16 x 15 inches
Matt Gagnon Red & Concrete, 2023
Concrete, ash, felt, painted MDF, acrylic, aluminum, steel and LED 79 x 10¾ inches
Matt Gagnon
Dark Wood with Grays, 2023
Concrete, mahogany, maple dyed, painted MDF, acrylic, aluminum, steel and LED 42 x 8½ inches
Matt Gagnon
Lavender & Copper, 2022
Concrete, ash, fabric, painted MDF, acrylic, copper, aluminum, steel and LED
91½ x 10½ inches
Matt Gagnon
Blue Concrete with Rocks, 2022
Concrete, maple, fabric, painted MDF, acrylic, brass, aluminum, steel, and LED
75 x 10½ inches
Matt Gagnon
Yellow & Orange Volcano, 2023
Mortar mix, stones, acrylic, glass, steel, wood armature and LED
30 x 30 x 27 inches
Matt Gagnon
Copper & Glass, 2022
Concrete, glass, acrylic, wood, steel and LED lights
76 x 10 x 10 inches
Matt Gagnon
Blond Sand, 2023
Concrete, ash, painted MDF, acrylic, aluminum, steel and LED
56½ x 8½ inches
Matt Gagnon
1996 Bachelor of Architecture, Cornell University, College of Architecture, Art, and Planning, Ithaca, New York
2012- 2015 Otis College of Art and Design, LA Part Time Faculty, Product Design Dept.
2010 Parsons School of Constructed Environments, NYC (2010 Fall, 2008 Spring) Part Time Faculty, Interior Design Department
1999-2002 Gehry Partners, LLP, LA (1999-2002) Design Team
-Corcoran Museum and School of Art: 127,000 sq ft addition to existing building
-Guggenheim Museum Exhibition Designs: Bilbao, Spain; Las Vegas, Nevada; New York, New York
-Competition Proposals for New York Times headquarters and a new museum for the Guggenheim
1997-1999 Meyer and Gifford Architects, NYC Designer
-Rizzoli corporate headquarters New York City / Jersey City Museum of Art /Private Residence New York City
1996-1997 Gaetano Pesce, NYC (1996-1997) Designer + Fabricator
2021 Imaginary Artifacts, Solo Show of Light Stacks
Winston Wächter Fine Art, Seattle, WA
2020 Material Memories, Solo Show of Light Stacks at Winston Wächter FineArt, Seattle, WA
2018 Material Relations, Solo Show of Light Stacks at The New Gallery, Los Angeles
2016 West Edge Design Fair, Lounge design installation with Missoni and Roche BoBois, Los Angeles exhibition of furniture designed for RS Barcelona, Milan
2012 ICFF, exhibition of furniture designed for RS Barcelona, New York, NY Salon Del Mobile, exhibition of furniture designed for RS Barcelona, Milan
2018 Group Show During Milan Design Week, Rossana Orlandi Gallery, Milan, Italy
2015 Matiere Grise, Group Show at Pavillon De L’Arsenal curated by Encore Heureux, Paris
2014 Miami Design Bridge, Art Basel, group show curated by Clement Sauvoy, Miami, FL
American Design in Paris, group show, Mona Bismarck American Center for Art & Culture, Paris
2013 American Design in Paris, group show, Triode Gallery,France
2012 Design is Material, group exhibition of material studies during Modern Atlanta, Atlanta, GA
Hotel California, a group show curated by Sight Unseen and Brooks Thomas Hudson, New York, NY
2020: CONSTRUCTING RELEVANCE, Presentation of recent projects.
Cornell University, Ithaca NY
2007-2015 Guest Critic on architecture and design reviews; Otis College of Art, City College of New York, Parsons School of Design, Savannah College of Art and Design and Woodbury University
2011 Prototype as Performance, Presentation of new work at Product Placement 3.1, New York, NY
2015 Matière Grise, Encore Heureux, Pavillon de L’Arsenal, Exhibition Catalog
2014 Gardens Are For Living by Judy Kameon, Rizzoli
The studio’s work has been featured in countless publications online and in print such as Architectural Digest, LA Times, Interior Design Magazine, New York Times, Icon, Surface, Metropolis, Design Milk, and more
