DOMINGO, LOS DIECISIETE DE ENERO VEINTE-DIECISEIS

A new collaborative work between myself and JK Russ titled 'The Release', 2016, collage and oil on metal, 14” x 11”. We usually start with a regular-sized piece of aluminum that I commonly work on, I'll paint a standard backdrop in oil, then hand it over to JK Russ and she finds collage elements to place on the backdrop. After JK has finished, we talk about the images, configuration of forms and placement then talk about what is the best way to complete the work in oil paint. The best works or examples are the one that find a perfect conflation of our ideas and signifiers.

...writing lists, working on initial sketches and drawings, priming canvases and pieces of metal so that I can tap the muse as long as she stays around. I've got a feeling it will not be for long, but at least I can stockpile all the info so I can use it over the next couple of years. There's some great new ideas and paintings coming out of this new mix (painting below is an old work from 2007 about dealing with muses)

New Publication 'Thirty-Three'

My new publication 'Thirty-Three' is now available for purchase in New Zealand. They are $33 each, plus $6 for postage and handling within New Zealand. The catalogue features full colour reproductions of the group of paintings now on tour around New Zealand and an essay about the work by anthropologist Dr Peter J Howland. Please email me for more details!

JUEVES, EL DIECEOCHO DE OCTUBRE, VEINTE-DOCE

New article by Kristine Walsh in the Gisborne Herald newspaper for my upcoming exhibition 'The Whaling and Naching of Teeth': http://www.gisborneherald.co.nz/article/?id=29897

DOMINGO, EL SIETE DE OCTOBRE, VEINTE DOCE

Recent published articles on my work over the last couple of months:
Fran Dibble, 'Palette of Painters', Manawatu Standard, Palmerston North, NZ, 2 October, 2012
Unknown, 'Matthew Couper and JK Russ: Firmamentation', Australian Art Collector, 2 October, 2012
Scott Dickensheets, 'We Chose You', Desert Companion, Las Vegas, October Issue, 2012
Anthony Behrens, 'Hidden Talent', SwampThing Magazine, 20 September, 2012 (PDF)
Checko Salgado, 'Matthew Couper: Skins & Teeth Review', Arts Vegas, 15 September, 2012
Jenessa Kenway, 'In The Thick Of It: Matthew Couper's Skins & Teeth', Las Vegas Citylife, 14 September, 2012
Brian Paco Alvarez, 'Las Vegas Based Artist For Export', Las Vegas Arts & Culture, 12 September, 2012
Scott Dickensheets, 'To Do Thursday: Matthew Couper's Skins & Teeth', Las Vegas Citylife, 12 September, 2012
Eric Minh Swenson, 'Is Tim Bavington the Ed Ruscha of Las Vegas?', Huffington Post, 22 August, 2012

SABATO, EL OCHO DE SEPTIEMBRE, VEINTE DOCE

'Thirty-Three' publication, made in association with the touring exhibition of the same name.

essay titled 'The Divine Self and the  Church of Auto-Resurrection' by Dr Peter Howland

Designed by Tim Hansen and Matthew Nache of PAULNACHE

full colour, 78 pp, edition of 333

ISBN: 9 78-0-473-20990-2

DOMINGO, EL VEINTISEIS DE AGOSTO, VEINTE- DOCE

MATTHEW COUPER & ALIOS PRESENT:

‘SKINS & TEETH’

A ONE-NIGHT PREVIEW AND PUBLICATION LAUNCH

Thursday, September 13th, 2012, 6.00PM - 9.00PM

ALIOS, 1217 S. Main Street, Las Vegas, NV 89104, USA

Downtown Las Vegas-based artist Matthew Couper will be presenting new artworks at ALIOS before traveling to Australia, New Zealand and Spain for upcoming solo and group exhibitions. The ‘one-night only preview’ will present 14 unstretched oil paintings on canvas, a similar number of corresponding incised scrimshaw teeth and a Biombo maquette.

The title of the preview references the hanging, distressed canvases that Couper sends unstretched for ease of transportation to various galleries that represent his art. The teeth refer to the scrimshandered whales’ teeth which feature similar symbolism to the large paintings. Couper continues his anachronistic adaptation of Spanish Colonial painting to present issues of survival as an artist, art as historical currency and reactions to his new home of Las Vegas.

“I’ve been wanting to present the paintings and scrimshaw teeth to friends and interested parties in Las Vegas because the primary motivation for the works now come from here in Las Vegas and the machinations of the Strip - this amazing humanist construct in the middle of a harsh, arid desert. These new paintings provide a conduit between my status as a ‘new arrival’ and my dissection of Las Vegas as an unique place to make art” says Couper.

Viewers familiar with Couper’s art practice will be able to see corresponding paintings and scrimshaw en masse relating to recent performances such as the 2012 London Biennale in Nevada and paintings exhibited at the Contemporary Arts Center, Winchester Cultural Center, Blackbird Studios, ATM in Las Vegas, and Pop Up Art House in Henderson.

Because the artworks in the preview are ear-marked for exhibitions elsewhere, Couper’s new publication Thirty-Three will be available to purchase. The full-color, 80-page catalog accompanies his current traveling exhibition in New Zealand, with an essay by anthropologist and author Dr. Peter J. Howland.

CONTACT:
Matthew Couper, info@mattcouper.com. Phone: (510) 936-4052
For more information on the artist, upcoming events and video footage:

http://www.mattcouper.com

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IKR5PVBbrnQ

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4fa_D8loYM

http://www.londonbiennale.tk

Location:

http://www.alios.com

CALENDAR EDITORS:
Date: 9/13/12
Time: 6:00PM-9:00PM
What: ‘SKINS & TEETH’ -a one-night preview and publication launch. Artworks by Matthew Couper

Where: ALIOS, 1217 S. Main Street, Las Vegas, NV 89104, USA
Tickets: Free, publication ‘Thirty-Three’ available for purchase

VIERNES, EL DIEZ DE AGOSTO, VEINTE DOCE

MATTHEW COUPER : DESERT INVENTORY -- COLLECTING CONTEXT IN LAS VEGAS

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4fa_D8loYM

Film by Eric Minh Swenson. Music by Mountaineater

Los Angeles filmmaker Eric Minh Swenson traveled to Las Vegas to visit New Zealand-born artist Matthew Couper, who recently immigrated to the USA.

In his apartment in Las Vegas, Couper's collection of religious Spanish Colonial paintings from Mexico provide a rich cache of narrative and allegory that inform the artist's reactions to his new and unique environment. Over the past two years, Couper's paintings have collected and collated visual and psychological symbols of Las Vegas, culminating in a hybridized form which Huffington Post art writer John Seed suggests is 'a pagan Catholic Cirque du Soleil', accentuating the artist's 'Kafkaesque view of the world'

For more info on Eric Minh Swenson or project inquiries visit his website  www.thuvanarts.com/take1

MIERCOLES, EL OCHO DE AGOSTO, VEINTE DOCE

My painting 'The Harbinger' has been selected as a finalist in the 21st Annual Wallace Art Awards 2012.
http://www.wallaceartstrust.org.nz/wallace-art-awards/

'The Harbinger'
Matthew Couper
2012
oil on loose canvas
62" x 30"

JUEVES, EL DOS DE AGOSTO DE VENTE DOCE

Just before disassembling my props today, I thought I'd get a photo of my 'Polemical Alchemy' set-up in reference to an 1895 photograph of James Ensor in his studio:

"...The polemical assertion of the act of painting as a subject of aesthetics is more interesting than formalities of visual representation manifested by painting. We live in a digital age, where we could easily create graphics and visual aids through computer software and hardware yet the persistence of painting is still a mystery or perhaps an alchemy. Like James Ensor's paintings of death skulls/bones come to life or Matthew Couper's paintings about turning shit into gold, the alchemical power of the very act of painting is undeniable - transforming material entity into a metaphysical state..." - Jevijoe Vitug

MIERCOLES, EL VEINTICINCO DE JULIO, VEINTE DOCE

Two photographs of 'Polemical Alchemy' at the 2012 London Biennale in Nevada performances at Pop Up Art House, 21st of July 2012. Photographs by Frankie Henriquez.

www.londonbiennale.tk

SABATO, EL CATORCE DE JULIO, VEINTE-DOCE

2012 LONDON BIENNALE IN NEVADA
It's now only a week before the performances for the 2012 London Biennale in Nevada take place at Pop Up Art House in Henderson/Las Vegas. Please visit the website here and check out all the details: http://www.londonbiennale.tk
or you can download the press release here:
http://londonbiennale.mattcouper.com/press/OFFICIAL_London_Biennale_Nevada_2012_Press_Release.pdf

JUEVES, EL DOCE DE JULIO, VEINTE-DOCE

Thirty-Three at Te Manawa, Palmerston North:
My touring exhibition 'Thirty-Three' opens this Saturday at Te Manawa Museum of Art, Science & History in Palmerston North, New Zealand. This is the second venue of a three-year tour of the exhibition around New Zealand. The publication for the exhibition will be available by the end of the month and I will be back in New Zealand for an artist floor talk in October.

Thirty-Three, (touring exhibition)
Te Manawa, 326 Main Street, Palmerston North, NZ,
14 July - 21 October 2012

DOMINGO, EL UNO DE JULIO, VEINTE-DOCE

A Colby-inspired poster:

VIERNES, EL VIENTI DOS DE JUNIO, VEINTI DOCE

The London Biennale Satellite Project in conjunction with Pop Up Art House and the Contemporary Arts Center presents

Rainbow: 7 Colors 7 Artists

Performance: Saturday, July 21, 7:00PM
Pop Up Art House, 730 W. Sunset, Henderson

http://www.thepopuparthouse.com

Exhibition: September 6-29
Contemporary Arts Center, 107 E. Charleston Blvd, Las Vegas

http://lasvegascac.org/

Seven Las Vegas and Henderson-based artists will take part in the second London Biennale in Nevada satellite event presenting performances inspired by the colors of the rainbow at the Pop Up Art House in Henderson on Saturday, July 21 at 7:00PM. This year’s participation in the London Biennale will extend beyond the one-night-only performance event, Rainbow: 7 Colors 7 Artists, with an exhibition of the documentation behind and of the performances at the Contemporary Arts Center in Las Vegas September 6 through 29. The artists are: Noelle Garcia (red), Eri King (orange), Jevijoe Vitug (yellow), Matthew Couper (green), J K Russ with MzMina Khan (blue), Darren Johnson (indigo) and Brent Holmes (violet).

SABATO, EL NUEVE DE JUNIO, VEINTE-DOCE

Three new works in 'ATM' at Creative Space, 1421 S. Commerce St, Las Vegas, NV, USA. 1 June - 31 July, 2012.

left to right: 'Sevil', 'Federal Indulgences' and 'Thompson & Thompson and Thomson', all 2012,
ink, acrylic, graphite, wax and ribbon on Bristol paper, 12" x 9" (frame: 15" x 12"), USD360.00 each:

LUNES, EL VEINTIUNO DE MAYO, VEINTE-DOCE

CHARLES KRAFFT & MATTHEW COUPER: GUNS & SKULLS

May 26-June 23

Opening reception: 6:30-9 p.m. Saturday, May 26

PG Contemporary is pleased to announce Guns & Skulls, a pairing of artists whose 21st-century takes on two traditional mediums - ex-votos and Delft ceramic painting - offer sly new perspectives on the timeless themes of violence and death.

Dubbed "the dark angel of Seattle art" by critic Regina Hackett, Charles Krafft makes his second appearance at PG Contemporary, having shown human bone china reliquaries in the 2011 three-person exhibition Memento Mori.

For Guns & Skulls, Krafft returns to the gallery with porcelain firearms wittily embellished using traditional Delft ceramic painting techniques. The results are what Krafft has described as "a purely decorative dialogue on defense and disaster."

Krafft rebooted a struggling career as "the oldest promising young artist in the Pacific Northwest" in 1991, joining a women's china-painting guild and launching his internationally exhibited and acclaimed Disasterware series.

He has had more than three dozen solo exhibitions in Seattle; Portland, Ore.; Los Angeles; London; and Ljubljana, Slovenia, among other cities, and participated in the Venice Biennale in 2003. His work is included in the renowned Garth Clark & Mark Del Vecchio Collection, which the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston acquired in 2007.

New-Zealand born, Las Vegas-based painter Matthew Couper has been described by art historian John Seed as an "artist with a Kafkaesque view of the world" whose imagery suggests "a pagan Catholic Cirque du Soleil."

Known for putting a contemporary twist on a style associated with Spanish Baroque colonial art, Couper brings the symbols and narrative vocabulary of ex-votos - small devotional paintings on tin - into dialogue with sources as diverse as African power figures and Russian Suprematism. His work in Guns & Skulls will also include two large-scale paintings.

"Like any good Johnny Cash, Nick Cave or Pixies song, you've got to have sex, death and religion fueling the fire," Couper has said. He has exhibited extensively throughout New Zealand as well as in Los Angeles; Brooklyn, N.Y.; Santa Fe, N.M.; Barcelona; and Hong Kong.

Both artists will attend the opening reception from 6:30-9 p.m. Saturday, May 26.

PG Contemporary Gallery

Houston, TX 77006

713-523-7424

Contact: Zoya Tommy, director

Gallery hours: Thursday to Saturday 11am to 6pm or by appointment.

JUEVES, EL DIECISIETE DE MAYO, VEINTE-DOCE

Kazimir Malevich as Joseph Beuys with a little help from Albrecht Durer:

JUEVES, EL DIEZ DE MAYO, VEINTE-DOCE

Works packed, all ready to be shipped to PG Contemporary in Houston, Texas.

MARTES, EL OCHO DE MAYO, VEINTE-DOCE

Almost-finished scrimshaw. Final patina is on and I think that they've come out better than I thought. Two of these scrimshaw are heading to Houston for my two-person exhibition with Charles Krafft at PG Contemporary.