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Matt Lively in his barn studio (Photo by Justin Chesney)
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“Terrace Portal,” oil on panel, 30 by 60 inches
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“Thermo Balling,” oil on panel, 81 by 143 inches
Who: Matt Lively
Where: Glavé Kocen Gallery will host a virtual opening for its exhibition of works by Matt Lively with video and photos on Friday, April 24, starting around 4 p.m. Virtual previews are available by contacting Jennifer Glave at jennglave@glavekocengallery.com.
Unlike studio paintings, where he can deliberate for months, artist Matt Lively creates his plein air landscapes and giant murals with haste.
Painting plein air (outside), Lively has a few hours from start to finish. Murals are similar, but on a grander scale. The quick turnaround of these pieces has inspired Lively to change up his creative process when painting in his home studio. “Sometimes the three-hour plein air paintings were more powerful than the three-month studio paintings,” he says.
Lively applied this work principle to an 8-foot-by-10-foot canvas he was painting for a show at Patrick Henry Community College this past October, completing the work in just two days.
The painting, titled “Thermo Balling,” featured a few of Lively’s signature motifs — the beecyles (bees with bicycle wheels in lieu of legs), sheep, clouds and a house. “It was a really important painting because I knew I could combine everything I knew into one giant two-day painting,” he says.
“There’s a difference between a pretty place and a place that gets me in a mental state where I make interesting work.” —Matt Lively
For his April show at Glavé Kocen Gallery, Lively will operate with a similar creative process. “You don’t have to labor over paintings,” he says. “Allow yourself to use the information buried in your brain and spill it out — and whatever happens, happens.”
Lively’s 2018 show at Glavé Kocen served as a creative launching point for his current series. “Destructive Distillation” featured a series of images Lively created using tar, depicting the studios of Richmond artists who have helped him along his artistic journey.
For his upcoming show, Lively will build on that past exhibit, painting places that “entertain and inspire” him. He’ll also allow himself to use all the materials he has been exposed to in his artistic career.
“I started thinking about other places that I happen to like, and I wondered what it is that I liked about those places,” Lively says. “There’s a difference between a pretty place and a place that gets me in a mental state where I make interesting work.”
For the show you can expect a mix of interiors, along with landscapes painted as interiors. Lively tucks himself up under the trees while he paints plein air, so the lighting is just right.
The show will include a compilation of studio paintings along with a large piece that will be a “natural history museum-like collection of favorite places.” Lively also will tap into his sculpture background, creating miniatures to accompany the large painting, along with a sculpture of a distorted 3-D house that appears normal when viewed from a particular perspective.
Embracing the serendipity behind the creative process, Lively says, “After the last show, I was thinking about all the things I learned over 25 years of making stuff every day, and my thought was, ‘I really should just paint without thinking about anything.’ ”
