Matthew Heller
Matthew Heller Biography
ARTIST STATEMENT
Personal life experience is the instigation for my work though the personal narrative rarely remains the focus. The emotional energy I put into my work stays constant throughout the making of a piece. The placement of one figure/object will lead to another figure/object, which leads to another mark, which leads to the covering up of something only to introduce something else. My paintings are built from layers of elements coming and going and are not highly premeditated (usually). I approach writing (poetry) similarly. Though not blindly, I often stumble through my work searching, exploring the human condition; where a maximum amount of emotional experience is coupled with the least amount of visual information- this is anyway what I strive for.
MATTHEW HELLER
June 2014
EDUCATION
1996 BA, University of California Santa Barbara
SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2009 The Great / Galerie Anais / Bergamot Station, Santa Monica, CA
2008 Everything is a Love Story / DCA Fine Art / Los Angeles, CA
2007 One Million Colors / DCA Fine Art / Los Angeles, CA
2006 You Are Everything / Glu Gallery / Los Angeles, CA
2005 Coming And Going / The Jaxon House / Venice, CA
Very New Work / Lost and Found Gallery / Los Angeles, CA
2004 Ceremony / Lost and Found Gallery / Los Angeles, CA
2003 Lovesick / Soapbox Gallery / Venice, CA
2001 New Paintings / Monique Goldstrom Gallery / New York, NY
2000 Broken / Bert Green Fine Art / Los Angeles, CA
SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS
2009 Incognito / SMMOA / Santa Monica, CA
2008 Incognito / SMMOA / Santa Monica, CA
The Other Side/ Roseark / Hollywood, CA
2006 The December Show with Sister Corita / Lost and Found Gallery / Los Angeles, CA
SFMOMA’s 16th Biennial Auction / San Francisco Museum of Modern Art / San Francisco, CA
New Work / Corey Helford Gallery / Culver City, CA
21st Century LA / The Jaxon House / Venice, CA
2005 Tiger Tiger Rain Rain / The Jaxon House / Venice, CA
Small Wonders/ Pharmaka Gallery/ Los Angeles, CA
Interjacent, curated by Gioj De Marco / Gallery I-5 / Los Angeles, CA
2004 The December Show / Lost and Found Gallery / Los Angeles, CA
Festival Neruda (with Roberto Matta) / Project Artaud / San Francisco, CA
2003 Intimate Beginnings / D2 Art / Los Angeles, CA
2002 Gallery Artists / Circle Elephant Art Gallery / Los Angeles, CA
Tribeca Works on Paper / DFN Gallery / New York, NY
Beauty Will Save the World / Monique Goldstrom Gallery / New York, NY
2001 Green Light / Armstrong Schoenheit Gallery / Los Angeles, CA
Heller Vs Schwary: Matthew Heller and Brian Schwary (with Mark Kostabi) / DFN Gallery /
…New York, NY
Figurative Explorations / Monique Goldstrom Gallery / New York, NY
2000 Gallery Artists / Gallery Blu / Palm Desert, CA
1999 Coagula Presents / Patricia Correia Gallery at Bergamot Station / Santa Monica, CA
1997 Recent Work: Tom Fruin and Matthew Heller / Gallery 1434 / Santa Barbara, CA