Multi-disciplinary visual artist Matthew Craven has opened a new solo show at DCKT Contemporary, in New York’s Chinatown. The show is called “Oblivious Path” and seeks to comment on the sleight of hand played out in the history of domination. Craven uses ancient imagery with modern techniques to create works that are displaced in both time and space: a Grecian bust sits in a pinewood forest, an obelisk stands in the hills. Nothing belongs, yet everything seems seamless in the context of the work. Different cultural motifs combine erratically to come up with something both mystical and discomfiting. These are appropriations on purpose, culture jamming on an ancient level.
This is how the gallery describes the project:
Understanding that our view of history is deeply flawed and inherently biased, we are left with a puzzle of strange pieces. "Oblivious Path" combines these puzzle pieces into a new framework. Some of these pieces appear to fit together despite thousands of years and tens of thousands miles separating these ancient civilizations. Using source materials from historical texts, "Oblivious Path" scrambles our current notions of space and time. The powerful images we are left with cannot be reinterpreted, translated or disregarded. What is left was carved in stone. It is permanent. They are our sacred truths.
Craven lives and works in New York. He received his MFA from the School of Visual Arts in 2010. His work can be seen in the below music video for “Prinzif,” by Huerco S.
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[via DCKT Contemporary]
