QUAD GALLERY, RIVERSIDE CITY COLLEGE PRESENTS:

‘MATTHEW COUPER : RECENT DEVOTIONAL PAINTINGS’
Accompanied by Selections From the Artist’s Collection

Curated by John Seed

RECEPTION: Thursday, October 3rd, 2013, 6.00PM – 8.30PM
EXHIBITION: September 23rd - November 22nd, 2013 QUAD GALLERY, Riverside City College, 4800 Magnolia Ave. Riverside, California 92506, USA

Matthew Couper is a native of New Zealand who has been painting in Las Vegas since 2010. His artistic practice is rooted in his admiration for the anonymous devotional paintings that flourished in Spanish Colonial societies. By emulating the sincerity and devotional nature of these images, Couper has been able to create personal and idiosyncratic narratives that explore myth, religion, politics and personal experience. An artist who sees himself as a kind of ‘journeyman’, Matthew Couper works in an egoless tradition that existed and flourished before culture and religion became increasingly orthodox. At the Quad Gallery, Couper will be exhibiting both small ex-voto and retablo paintings executed on metal as well as larger paintings on canvas and painted objects.

In a profile written by John Seed – who is the exhibition’s guest curator – Couper and his work were described as follows:

An artist with a Kafkaesque view of the world, Couper uses his art to narrate personal uncertainties, and frustrations. He has found more than enough strangeness in Vegas -- and in America -- to challenge and stimulate his secular piety. Couper is both an intuitive, a moralist and a visionary.
The exhibition will also include a selection of customary devotional paintings from Mexico and Spain from Couper’s personal collection as an acknowledgement to the tradition of Spanish Colonial devotional art.

For more information on the artist, curator and video footage:
Artist's website
PAULNACHE representation
The Gravy- Artist interview
Eric Minh Swenson video on Matthew Couper in Las Vegas
John Seed
John Seed discussion with Matthew Couper at The Auckland Art Fair, New Zealand, 2013
John Seed Article on Matthew Couper
Quad Gallery Website

CONTACT: Leslie Brown, Leslie.Brown@rcc.edu. Phone: 951.222.8358

CALENDAR EDITORS:
Reception Date: 10/3/13
Time: 6:00PM-8:30PM
What: ‘MATTHEW COUPER : RECENT DEVOTIONAL PAINTINGS’
Accompanied by Selections From the Artist’s Collection. Curated by John Seed
Where: QUAD GALLERY, Riverside City College 4800 Magnolia Ave. Riverside, California 92506, PH: 951.222.8358
Gallery Hours: Mon - Thurs 10:00 am - 3:00 pm (or by special appointment for groups)
Tickets: Free