HORROR VACUI! A synthetic display of various contextual aesthetics in relation to the vampiric attributes of Las Vegas
Winchester Cultural Center Art Gallery
Las Vegas, Nevada, USA
27 May - 18 July 2014
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Las Vegas-based artist Matthew Couper presents HORROR VACUI!, a multi-disciplinary exhibition featuring paintings, sculpture, digital projects and performance that link together personalities, architecture and forms that relate to the intensely visual experience of the city.
The exhibition holds a mirror up to his own practice as an artist and his new home of Las Vegas, and uses a vampire theme as a linchpin in making connections between the two. Playful word associations, analogies and puns bridge the gaps and allow the viewer a romp through the similarities. Painting as an art medium has been declared “dead” by artists and critics over and over, yet continues to live on in use after claimed “rebirth(s)”. Las Vegas casinos are imploded only to be raised again on the same ground. Undead, blood-sucking, nocturnal beings rise each night from their coffins. The correlations are surprisingly abundant and the unlikely juxtaposition of imagery is intentionally amusing.”Horror Vacui” fills the gallery from floor to ceiling with artwork that references art history, Las Vegas history, the philosophies behind its visual culture (with special attention to simulacra) and of course - Dracula. ‘Horror vacui’ is the Latin postulate in physics, usually translated as “nature abhors a vacuum.”
ARTICLES and WRITING:
Ed Fuentes, 'HORROR VACUI is a kiss before the bite
Jenessa Kenway, 'Death and resurrection in Las Vegas: An art review
Dawn-Michelle Baude, ' HORROR VACUI combines wit and weird
F. Andrew Taylor, 'Artist has horror-ble take on Las Vegas
Winchester Cultural Center Facebook reception page
VIDEO
Vampire Headache
Matthew Couper
2014
oil and graphite on loose canvas
26” x 23”
Appropriated Cultural Guardian (Shewolf)
Matthew Couper
2014
souvenir and cinderblocks
38” x 35” x 4"
Appropriated Cultural Guardian (Shewolf)
Matthew Couper
2014
souvenir and cinderblocks
38” x 35” x 4"
Betty Willis
Matthew Couper
2014
graphite on rag paper
7" x 5"
Employee’s Cap & Tee-shirt (Warhol)
Matthew Couper
2014
oil and acrylic on fabric
variable dimensions
Private collection, Las Vegas, USA
Employee’s Cap & Tee-shirt (Malevich)
Matthew Couper
2014
oil and acrylic on fabric
variable dimensions
Employee’s Cap & Tee-shirt (Neiman)
Matthew Couper
2014
oil and acrylic on fabric
variable dimensions
Private collection, Las Vegas, USA
Horror Vacui! (Aladdin)
Matthew Couper
2014
masking tape and oil on loose canvas
18" x 15"
Horror Vacui! (Tropicana)
Matthew Couper
2014
masking tape and oil on loose linen
18" x 14"
Horror Vacui! (Stardust)
Matthew Couper
2014
masking tape and oil on loose linen
18" x 14"
Horror Vacui! (Flamingo)
Matthew Couper
2014
masking tape and oil on loose canvas
18" x 15"
Horror Vacui! (Dunes)
Matthew Couper
2014
masking tape and oil on loose canvas
18" x 15"
Horror Vacui! (New Frontier)
Matthew Couper
2014
masking tape and oil on loose linen
18" x 14"
Private collection, Las Vegas, USA
Syncretism of the Halves
Matthew Couper
2010
oil and collage on canvas
70” x 54”
Holiday in Las Vegas
Matthew Couper
2012
oil on canvas
14” x 12”
Collection of the artist
Harbinger
Matthew Couper
2013
oil on loose canvas
61" x 30"
Bloodletting
Matthew Couper
2013
oil on canvas
14" x 11"
Lying In State (Soundtrack by Superchunk)
Matthew Couper
2014
looped digital video projection
3'20"s
Dina Titus, Carole Lombard, Debbie Reynolds, Sheldon Adelson, Penn Jillette, Steve Wynn (private collection, Las Vegas, USA)
Matthew Couper
2012 - 2014
graphite on rag paper
7” x 5” each
Two Cups, One City
Matthew Couper
2014
paint on plastic, tomato juice and cinderblocks
44” x 35” x 4"
Two Cups, One City
Matthew Couper
2014
paint on plastic, tomato juice and cinderblocks
44” x 35” x 4"
Vlad & LeRoy
Matthew Couper
2013
oil on canvas (diptych)
14" x 25"
Silvered Self-Portrait
Matthew Couper
2014
performance
duration of two hours
Elaine Wynn
Matthew Couper
2014
graphite on rag paper
7" x 5"
Galvanizing Culture
Matthew Couper
2013
oil on metal
14” x 11”
Private collection, Las Vegas, USA
FLICKR
Matthew Couper
2014
looped digital video projection
3'20"s
Vampire Weekend
Matthew Couper
2014
oil on canvas
70” x 54”
Holly Madison, Antonio Armijo, Howard Hughes
Matthew Couper
2013 - 2014
graphite on rag paper
7” x 5” each
Six Figures
Matthew Couper
2013
oil on canvas and metal
variable dimensions
Appropriated Cultural Guardian (Sphinx)
Matthew Couper
2014
souvenir and cinderblocks
38” x 35” x 4"
Appropriated Cultural Guardian (Sphinx)
Matthew Couper
2014
souvenir and cinderblocks
38” x 35” x 4"
Saha
Matthew Couper
2013
oil on canvas
16" x 20"
Saha and reverse of Facade
Facade
Matthew Couper
2013
oil on canvas
46" x 58"
detail of Stratosphere Spectre on ceiling
Matthew Couper
2014
oil on loose canvas
62” x 33”
Style (or the Unearthing of the Vegas Vallée Warhol, overseen by the spectre of a badly-constructed replica of K. Malevich’s memorial marker)
Matthew Couper
2014
oil and acrylic on paper and cardboard, printed matter, souvenir, dirt, shovel and artificial lawn
118” x 59” x 38”
Style (or the Unearthing of the Vegas Vallée Warhol, overseen by the spectre of a badly-constructed replica of K. Malevich’s memorial marker)
Matthew Couper
2014
oil and acrylic on paper and cardboard, printed matter, souvenir, dirt, shovel and artificial lawn
118” x 59” x 38”
Detail of Style , Charles Bokowski poem of the same name and a scale souvenir of the Eiffel Tower
Matthew Couper
2014
oil and acrylic on paper and cardboard, printed matter, souvenir, dirt, shovel and artificial lawn
118” x 59” x 38”
Detail of Style , The Vegas Vallée Warhol and shovel
Matthew Couper
2014
oil and acrylic on paper and cardboard, printed matter, souvenir, dirt, shovel and artificial lawn
118” x 59” x 38”
VIDEO
©copyright
Matthew Couper / Couper Russ
Studios LLC 2004-2014
