January 5 – January 28, 2022
Embodiment presented an emotionally charged body of figurative work — bodies shown in fragments or with hollow stares, infused with introspective teal hues.
Frances Matassa: Embodiment at VillageOneArt presented an emotionally charged, technically proficient body of figurative work by the artist. The artist’s paintings recall the charged figuration depicted in works by 20th-century painters such as Paula Modersohn-Becker and Alice Neel. Matassa paints her subjects in fragments or with hollow stares as they directly face the viewer. Embodiment cast the gaze elsewhere from the subject, augmenting a sense of disconnect between the figures in these paintings and the surrounding environment. Introspective teal hues infuse the picture plane, as natural scenery engulfs the artist’s mostly nude, mostly female figures. Careful layers of oil paint create voluptuous bodies, shown fragmented and depicted in unnatural positions.
In considering this body of work, the artist reflects on the visceral potentiality of themes such as alienation, vulnerability and distortion. The bodies on display in these paintings draw the viewer into these realms of perception and unawareness: water moves through a woman’s fingers, while folds of skin tumble toward the corner of a canvas. Questions posed are left unanswered in this quixotic yet intriguing body of work. Painting critic and art historian Maura Reilly has observed that the body can be a site for “a sort of physical palette,” and this reflection holds true of Matassa’s tightly choreographed compositions. The role that the body plays as a space for psychological contemplation feels potent and immediate in these lush and masterful paintings. A harmonious approach to form, volume, color and space elevates these figures into heightened poetic metaphors for being and non-being. Visitors to Embodiment could embrace the surreal and the introspective in equal measure in this exhibition by rising-star painter Frances Matassa, on view in January 2022 at VillageOneArt in Chelsea.
Works in the Exhibition
Embodiment was on view at VillageOneArt, 150 West 25th Street, Suite 403, New York, from January 5 to January 28, 2022. For inquiries regarding available works by Frances Matassa, please contact info@villageoneart.com.