Matthew F Fisher | Lakes | November 5 – January 1, 2023

Matthew F Fisher’s recent paintings and works on paper read like a confidential invitation to a private, tranquil, and dazzling wonder-scape. The promise of bliss unfolds as we marvel at these paintings and drink in the deep blue skies, radiant sunshine, shimmering azure seas and soft sands meticulously rendered in his intimate, jewel-like surfaces. He guides us through a world delightfully rich in the sensations and textures of summer, a season framed by a dream of retreat and regeneration. These are paintings redolent with the temptation to abandon the coarse reality of a world of responsibility and grayness, and enter a universe constructed to take us far away. Whether that journey leads to the promised nirvana is an appealing question at the root of Fisher’s practice. As we get physically closer to each work, we recognize his use of nimble spatial devices and delicately stylized forms to fashion a flawless utopian world. We’re looking at a universe fully designed to entice us; gaining absolute fulfillment in that place is another matter.

Precise modes of persuasion cannot be ignored in Fisher’s work. His masterful use of paint and the precision with which he delivers his fictional cosmos bring the experience of seeing his paintings in person to another level of aesthetic intake. It’s not just the rigor of craft that is so impressive, it’s the extreme efficiency of his vocabulary and compositional structure that fine-tune each pictorial event. This is painting that resonates through the absolute clarity of each visual statement. The result is something steadfast and profoundly memorable.