UNTITLED (2006)

as shown at Boston’s Photographic Resource Center (PRC) SYNTAX exhibition curated by Leslie K. Brown

MATTHEW SWARTS A DENSE CLUSTER OF LIGHT GRAY, OVERLAPPING SCRIBBLE LINES FILLS THE CENTER OF A WHITE BACKGROUND, CREATING A CLOUD-LIKE EFFECT WITH FAINT HINTS OF SHADOW AND TEXTURE IN TRUE CONTEMPORARY ARTIST MATTHEW SWARTS STYLE.

MATTHEW SWARTS A TEXTURED SURFACE WITH AN UNEVEN, MOTTLED PATTERN IN SHADES OF GRAY AND OLIVE GREEN, THIS CONTEMPORARY VISUAL EVOKES AGED, WEATHERED PAPER OR CONCRETE WITH FINE CRACKS AND SUBTLE VARIATIONS—PERFECT FOR PHOTOGRAPHY BACKDROPS.

When my grandfather died I inherited thousands of images from his life. In making scans for some relatives, I realized I wanted to make work with these pictures—images for which I had a deep sense of childhood mystery. I was between projects then and the work I was doing involved downloading line art which I then transformed into screens to layer over my photographs. Because the photographs and their meaning were so personal, with my grandfather’s imagery, I wanted to create something less mechanical and more with the quality of line made by my unskilled and shaky hands. I doodled on post-it notes and scanned them into the computer. Within Photoshop, I then built structures out of the crude mark-making. These I then layered over my grandfather’s pictures from his personal album, adjusting the push and pull between the image and the drawn screen with the computer, confusing the perceptual experience of each image.

I did not do it consciously, but the ways in which the screen prevents the mind from entering and holding the image now feel like they have their analog in the arc of loss.

MATTHEW SWARTS A FADED, HAZY PHOTO REMINISCENT OF MATTHEW SWARTS' ART SHOWS TWO INDISTINCT CHILDREN ON A FLORAL-PATTERNED SOFA IN A VINTAGE LIVING ROOM WITH LIGHT STREAMING THROUGH THE WINDOW BEHIND THEM. THEIR FEATURES ARE ALMOST COMPLETELY OBSCURED.

MATTHEW SWARTS SIX BLACK-AND-WHITE PORTRAITS OF A PERSON IN STRIPED CLOTHING, ARRANGED IN TWO ROWS. THE FACES ARE OBSCURED BY SWIRLING, TEXTURED PATTERNS AND CIRCULAR MARKS OVERLAY THE ENTIRE VISUAL, CONTEMPORARY PHOTOGRAPHY PIECE.

MATTHEW SWARTS A GRAYSCALE IMAGE OF AN INTRICATE, SWIRLING PATTERN IN A CIRCULAR SHAPE RECALLS CONTEMPORARY ABSTRACT LACE OR FILIGREE. THE DENSE, DETAILED DESIGN EVOKES THE STYLE OF ARTIST MATTHEW SWARTS, WITH LOOPING LINES OVER A TEXTURED BACKGROUND.

MATTHEW SWARTS AN ABSTRACT PATTERN BY ARTIST MATTHEW SWARTS, FEATURING OVERLAPPING, TANGLED, THIN WHITE AND GRAY LINES THAT CREATE A CHAOTIC WEB-LIKE VISUAL TEXTURE ON A NEUTRAL BACKGROUND.

MATTHEW SWARTS A PERSON WALKS ALONE ON A FOGGY BEACH, LEAVING FOOTPRINTS IN THE WET SAND—A VISUAL SCENE REMINISCENT OF MATTHEW SWARTS' ART. THE CALM SEA IS BARELY VISIBLE IN THE BACKGROUND, BLENDING INTO THE MISTY, GRAY SKY.

MATTHEW SWARTS A BLURRED GRAYSCALE IMAGE OF A PERSON IN A SUIT AND TIE EVOKES THE ENIGMATIC STYLE OF ARTIST MATTHEW SWARTS, WITH INDISTINCT FACIAL FEATURES MAKING THE INDIVIDUAL UNRECOGNIZABLE.

MATTHEW SWARTS A PERSON IS VISIBLE THROUGH A SHEER, TEXTURED FABRIC IN MATTHEW SWARTS’ PHOTOGRAPHY, MAKING THEIR FEATURES AND EXPRESSION FAINT AND OBSCURED. THE BACKGROUND AND SURROUNDINGS ARE INDISTINCT DUE TO THE FABRIC BARRIER.

MATTHEW SWARTS BLACK AND WHITE ABSTRACT PATTERN OF INTERSECTING WAVY LINES FORMING A GRID, CRAFTED BY VISUAL ARTIST MATTHEW SWARTS. THE LINES CREATE A DISTORTED, ALMOST OPTICAL ILLUSION EFFECT, WITH TIGHTER GRID LINES IN THE CENTER AND LOOSER TOWARD THE EDGES.

MATTHEW SWARTS A CLOSE-UP VIEW OF A TANGLED WEB OF THIN, WHITE FIBERS OVERLAPPING CHAOTICALLY ON A GRAYISH BACKGROUND, CREATING A DENSE, ABSTRACT TEXTURE REMINISCENT OF ART BY ARTIST MATTHEW SWARTS.

MATTHEW SWARTS A PERSON SITS CROSS-LEGGED ON A BED OR BLANKET, MOSTLY OBSCURED BY DENSE BLUE SCRIBBLES, IN A BLURRED, SEPIA-TONED BACKGROUND WITH ANOTHER FIGURE IN THE DISTANCE—A STRIKING EXAMPLE OF CONTEMPORARY ART.