Daina Mattis - "Family Style" exhibition catalog

DAINA MATTIS FAMILY STYLE

DAINA MATTIS Family Style

A special thanks to all who made this come together, specifically Tim Collins, Hedy Zhang, Noah Labinaz, Timothy Westbrook, Michael Giannattasio, and Lauren Balionis.

Plastic-Wrapped Vanitas One has only to leaf through The Practical Encyclopedia of Good Decorating and Home Improvement (1970) or a contemporaneous American family photo album to find evidence of the capricious nature of trends in “good taste.”

Consider the common living room couch, often upholstered in a pattern of brown and orange swirl so unruly that it might spill onto the floor if it weren’t sealed in a transparent plastic cover. Were our first-generation grandparents protecting the couch from cigarette Smoke? Enemies of ornamentation? The inability to bear another loss?

Daina Mattis’s recent works offer a meditation on the ruins of the American middle class that is laden with both personal and ecological loss. The 18 linen canvases in Family Style each depict a section of a wall, covered in layers of trompe l’oeil surfaces in the energetic palette of American interiors from the 1950s–70s. These are covered with artificial materials common to the kitsch aesthetic and emblematic of our warming planet. Mattis’s paintings take on a cautionary symbolism, like the bounty of fruit and wine nestled beside a human skull in the tradition of Victorian vanitas, or “emptiness.”1 The exhibition’s two sculptures suggest a near future dictated by such consumptive patterns: edible Oreo-like cookies branded with the names of Ivy League universities, and a drop-leaf table that merges wood and plastic. Together, these works explore the social and ecological implications of natural and unnatural materials.

Mattis’s life-size fragments of interior walls and furnishings domesticize the ruin, a subject most often reserved for the overgrown remains of once-imposing civic and commercial structures. The landscapes of European Romantic painters, such as Hubert Robert or Caspar David Friedrich, often feature a small human figure alongside a crumbling colonnade overtaken by a verdant grove or an expanse of angry sea. Other artists of the Romantic era took a more critical approach, often pairing the remnants of failed civilizations with the terrifying majesty of the natural world. In The Course of Empire (1833–1836), for example, the American painter Thomas Cole warns of rapid industrialization and the instability of global regimes. Today, the spatial and temporal proximity of contemporary industrial ruins across the American Rust Belt stands as its own inescapable critique.2 Placed before the viewer on a much smaller and more human scale, Mattis’s faux surfaces question the role of materiality in the construction of taste and class. In addition to hand-painted faux marble, she manipulates a synthetic called ‘flock’ to imitate the raised, textured look of luxurious upholstery or wall coverings, such as damask or velvet.

Featured heavily in Family Style, flock wallpaper would have been popular in late 18th century Europe amongst middle classes eager to display their upward mobility. One of 12 works titled after semi-precious stones, Amber depicts an eponymously pigmented faux marble wall, painted on a partly exposed linen base. A swath of Pepto Bismol-pink oil paint collides with a leafy pattern of forest green flock, each layer marking the change of hands from inhabitant to inhabitant. A painted vent at the bottom of the picture restrains its maximalism and anchors it in an interior space.

Descent portrays a sun-stained staircase wall dappled with ornate Victorian silhouettes of wall hangings that seem to have been replaced with mostly rectangular frames, each matted with flock in a mid-century palette that lends them a subtle three dimensionality. The frames are pictureless, as if the house has been sold and stripped of legible memories, leaving the viewer to face a century of family history, flattened into a single plane.

1 Closely related to vanitas, the symbols in memento mori artworks embody the Latin phrase, “remember, you must die.”

2 Dora Apel, “Ruin Terrors and Pleasures,” Beautiful Terrible Ruins: Detroit and the Anxiety of Decline (New Brunswick, New Jersey; London: Rutgers University Press, 2015), 12-26.

Like trompe l’oeil paintings that were popular in Victorian America, Mattis’s imitation surfaces produce two ways of seeing. Once the viewer is aware of the illusion, any successive look is performed with simultaneous awareness of reality and artifice. Within this split consciousness, the viewer can take pleasure in the artist’s skill and engage critically with the artwork’s representational apparatus.3 Mattis’s work draws the spectator close, where the artificiality of familiar materials that go unnoticed in one’s own home now invite contemplation about the circumstances of their production. Wounded Table, for example, has an antique wooden core that Mattis has fitted with leaves made of high-density polyethylene to approximate enormous halves of a white plastic plate. Though the fusion of synthetic and organic materials suggests a creative solution in the face of dwindling resources, Mattis’s changeling table is neither utopian nor apocalyptic. The juxtaposition of antique and disposable matter is pleasingly anti-seamless, like surreal “exquisite corpse” drawings or an athlete’s sleek prosthetic limb.

The glibly titled Endless, Eternal, Evergreen, Enduring, and Everlast, are pastoral scenes flocked on linen and wrapped, hilariously, in transparent plastic. The series of wall works is quintessential “kitsch,” or, bad taste: a hodgepodge of styles, often excessive and bearing no relationship to function.4 Cultural critics in the 1960s and early 1970s held disdain for both the corporations and the “unsophisticated” consumers who built a market for low-quality plastic appliances and imitation furnishings.5 Mattis’s off-brand Oreo cookies embossed with the word “Princeton” imply not only that a prestigious education can be bought and consumed, but that no section of society is immune to bad taste.

“The idea of flock is just hideous to most painters,” says Mattis. Trompe l’oeil, too, was dismissed by 19th century critics for being a cheap and commonplace deception.6 Mattis’s command of such techniques undermines a fine art ecosystem in which “craft” is a dirty word. Her works reassign value to products and services that refuse to conceal the seams of their origins and labor. As the ruiniste painters visualized the futility of taming rival nations or land, Mattis’s body of work exposes the poignancy of each generation’s attempt to capture, wrap, zip, or recreate the natural world.

Carla Kessler, 2020

Carla Kessler is a PhD Candidate at the Courtauld Institute of Art in London, where she researches participatory art since the 1970s. Previously she worked in audience research and strategic planning for museums including the Art Institute of Chicago and the Museum of Modern Art.

3 Caroline Levine, “Seductive Reflexivity: Ruskin’s Dreaded Trompe l’oeil” (The Journal of Aesthetics and Art Criticism 56, no. 4, 1998): 367-75.

4 Gillo Dorfles, “Styling and architecture,” Kitsch: An Anthology of Bad Taste (London: Studio Vista Books, 1969. First published as Il Kitsch: antologia del cattivo gusto, Milan: Gabriele Mazzolla Publishers, 1968), 251-254.

5 Dorfles, “Traditional kitsch,” Kitsch: An Anthology of Bad Taste, 277-279.

6 Judith A. Barter, “True to the Senses and False in Its Essence: Still-Life and Trompe l’Oeil Painting in Victorian America,” Art Institute of Chicago Museum Studies 31, no. 1 (2005): 33-92.

Wounded Table, 2020, antique Maddox table and high-density polyethylene, dimensions variable

Descent, 2020, oil and flock on linen, 54” x 60”

Tourmaline, 2020, oil and flock on linen, 30” x 19”

following pages: Jade, 2020, oil and flock on linen, 30” x 19” Opal, 2020, oil and flock on linen, 30” x 19”

Legacy Cookies, 2020, flour, cocoa, baking soda, butter, brown sugar, sugar, salt, vanilla, and the “white stuff,” 1 3/4” x 1/3”

Everlast, 2020, flock, plastic casing, zipper, and fabric on linen, 15� x 12�

Endless, Eternal, Evergreen, Enduring, 2020, flock, plastic casing, zipper, and fabric on linen, 15� x 12� each

Amber, 2020, oil and flock on linen, 30” x 19” following pages: Topaz, 2020, oil and flock on linen, 30” x 19” Garnet, 2020, oil and flock on linen, 30” x 19”

Daina Mattis b. Los Angeles, CA

EDUCATION MFA, Painting - Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY, 2011 BFA, Painting and Drawing - Sculpture Minor - Laguna College of Art & Design, Laguna Beach, CA, Summa Cum Laude, 2007 ​ ​ SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS 2020 Family Style, Daina Mattis, August 6 - Sept 20, High Noon Gallery, New York, NY 2019 Bona Fide (2), Daina Mattis, Jan 21 - Feb 24, Azarian McCullough Art Gallery, St. Thomas Aquinas College 2018 Vessels, High Noon Gallery, Oct 11 - Nov 11, New York, NY 2017 Bona Fide, Blue House Gallery, Nov 11 – Dec 9, Dayton, OH 2016 The Present Matter, SLA307 Non-Profit Art Space, Oct 21 - Nov 27, New York, NY 2013-2014 Foreign Bodies (with Caitlin Foley), Arcade Gallery, Marymount College, Dec 2 - Jan 25, San Pedro, CA 2010 Daina Mattis, Frances Keevil Art Gallery, May 18 - June 1, Double Bay, Sydney, Australia The Wall, Syracuse University, April 1 - 30, Syracuse, NY 2009 Daina Mattis, Sylvia White Gallery, July 8 -Aug 8, Ventura, CA

SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS 2020 AMAG 20th Anniversary, Dates TBA, Azarian McCullough Art Gallery, St. Thomas Aquinas College 2019 Thisness and Whatness, October 12 – February 8, 2020, Felician University, Rutherford, NJ, Curated by Scott Reeds, catalogu essay by Stephen Maine Memory Palace, March 1 – 27, Jackson Dinsdale Art Center, Hastings College, NE, Curated by Young Space 2018 Art Vilnius International Contemporary Art Fair, June 7-10, Sla307 Art Space, Vilnius, Lithuania Faculty Display Case, Jan 29 – Feb 11, Parsons School of Design, The New School, New York, NY VNO-NYC, Dec 14, 2017 – Jan 4, Sla307 Art Space, New York, NY 2017 Making Marks, The Hardy Gallery, September 1 – October 15, Ephraim, WI Soft Spoken, Sara Nightingale Gallery, July 22 - August 14, Sag Harbor, NY Soft Reboot, Proto Gallery, Curated by Rob Ventura, June 3 - July 23, Hoboken, NJ Smart Dust, SLA307 Non-Profit Art Space, Dec 9 - Jan 7, New York, NY Flat File Program, Tiger Strikes Asteroid, Dec 2016 - Nov 2017, Brooklyn, NY 2016 Flat File: Year 4, Tiger Strikes Asteroid, Dec 9 – 18, Brooklyn, NY Išeivijos Meninik Paroda, The Hangar Gallery South, Oct 29 - Nov 20, Santa Monica, CA The Cooper Union Artist in Residency Exhibition, The Cooper Union, Aug 3 - 17, New York, NY Jurors Range, The Hardy Gallery, June 17 - July 17, Ephraim, WI Introductions, Trestle Gallery, Curated by Jim Osman, Jan 15 - Feb 19, Brooklyn, NY 2015 The Rebirth of Wonder, Bushwick Open Studios 2015, June 5 - 7, Brooklyn, NY Moterys Apie Moteris, Lithuanian Museum of Art, March 7 - 29, Lemont, IL Gallery Gala 17 Invitational, Arnot Art Museum, Feb 13 - Aug 8, Elmira, NY 30th Annual Positive/Negative, Slocumb Galleries, East TN State University, Feb 1 - March 15, Johnson City, TN 2014 The Way of the Flesh Part II, Mt. San Antonio College Art Gallery, Sept 18 - Oct 16, Walnut, CA ARK, Charles Allis Art Museum, Aug 1 - Sept 28, Milwaukee, WI Art from the Boros II, Denise Bibro Fine Art, June 19 - Aug 9, New York, NY Collector’s Choice 2014, Sylvia White Gallery, April 23 - May 24, Ventura, CA Body Language, Center for Contemporary Art, Curated by George Herms, April 5 - May 17, Santa Ana, CA

2013 Creatives Rising, October 1 - 31, Long Island City, NY Commitment and Similar Acts of Betrayal, Sarah Silberman Gallery, Feb 5 - March 1, Montgomery College, MD 2012 Art in Miami-Context, J. Cacciola Gallery, Dec 4 - 9, Miami, FL The Other New York, The Everson Museum of Art, Sept 22 - Jan 6, 2013, Syracuse, NY Things Are Not What They Seem, J. Cacciola Gallery, April 3 - 28, New York, NY Represent, Think Tank Gallery, April 12 - 30, Los Angeles, CA Re-Placed, Brooklyn Fire Proof, March 1 - 31, Brooklyn, NY The Figure Now, BAG Gallery, Feb 11 - 24, Brooklyn, NY 46th Annual National Drawing & Small Sculpture Show, Del Mar College, Feb 14 - May 4, 2012, Corpus Christi, TX 2011 On the Edge: Statements in Black & White, S-Cube Gallery, Nov 12 - Jan 30, Laguna Beach, CA Fishing From the Beach, Dumbo Arts Center, Nov 12 - 26, Brooklyn, NY De-Figuration, Lutheran Church of St. John the Evangelist, Brooklyn, NY 2011 MFA Thesis Exhibition, SU Art Galleries, Syracuse Univ., April 7 - May 15, Syracuse, NY Ekphrasis, Mod Melange Exhibition, January, Los Angeles, CA Kentucky National, Juried Exhibition, Clara Eagle Gallery, Murray State University, Feb 18 - March 13, Murray, KY 2010 Syracuse University Faculty Exhibition, XL Space, Syracuse, NY Means of Connection, Lutheran Church of St. John the Evangelist, Brooklyn, NY Meet & Greet, Spark Gallery, Syracuse, NY Mod Melange Exhibition, July, Los Angeles, CA Selected Works, Frances Keevil Art Gallery, Feb 23 - March 14, Double Bay, Sydney, Australia The Figure Now 2010 International Juried Exhibition, February, Fontbonne University Arts Gallery, St. Louis, MO Open Painting 2010 Juried Exhibition, Maxwell Mays Gallery, Jan 17 - Feb 5, Providence, RI 2009 Fairhaven Mausoleum Art Exhibition, Juried Exhibition, Santa Ana, CA Graduate Painting, XL Projects, Syracuse, NY Drawn In, Works on Paper Exhibition, Frances Keevil Art Gallery, June 26 - July 4, Sydney, Australia Drawing, XL Projects, Syracuse, NY Australian Lithuanian Art Exhibit, Bansktown Town Hall, Sydney, Australia Graduate Drawing Exhibition, The Wall, Syracuse University, Syracuse, NY The Nude in Contemporary Art, A.D. Gallery, University of North Carolina, Jan 26 - Feb 25, Pembroke, NC 2008 Sotto Voce, Fairhaven Mausoleum, Juried Exhibition, Santa Ana, CA Feminism Rhetoric, Spark Gallery, Syracuse, NY

AWARDS, GRANTS, RESIDENCIES Artist in Residency at The Cooper Union School of Art, New York, NY, 2016 Nancy Jermanovich Award for Work in Drawing, Syracuse University, NY, 2011 Joan Mitchell MFA Nominee, Syracuse University, NY, 2011 Filisters Gražinos Musteikyts Grand Scholarship, Vydunas Fund, Lemont, IL, 2011 Dorthea I. Shaffer Award, Syracuse University, NY, 2010 Jerome Solomon Memorial Scholarship, Syracuse University, NY, 2009 Best Thesis Award, Fine Arts, Laguna College of Art & Design, Laguna Beach, CA, 2007 First Place Sculpture, The Pacific Art Foundation, Laguna Beach, CA, 2007 Plotkin Award, Peter & Masha Plotkin Memorial Foundation, Lake Forest, CA, 2006 Best of Show, The Pacific Art Foundation, Laguna Beach, CA, 2006 First Place, Mixed Medium, Santa Ana Art Association, Santa Ana, CA, 2006 BIBLIOGRAPHY Design Milk, The “Double Take” Art of Daina Mattis, by David Behringer, August, 2020 ARTNEWS, Be a Body: Shows Around New York Take Up the Materiality of Screen-Based Work, by Rahel Aima, November 29, 2018 Vessels, Exhibition Catalogue, High Noon Gallery, Essay by Tom McGlynn, 2018 The Painted Desert, Exhibition Catalogue, High Noon Gallery, Essay by Elena Goukassian, 2017 “Cooper Union Summer Art Intensive 2016 Anthology,” The Cooper Union, 2016 Recommended: “Introductions 2016” at Trestle, Sharon Butler, twocoatsofpaint.com, Jan 26, 2016 Fresh Paint Magazine, Dec Ed., Juror, Danielle Krysa – The Jealous Curator, 2015 “Landing a Job in Academia,” Matthew Daub, Professional Artist Magazine, Aug/Sep, pg. 28 - 37, 2015 The Way of the Flesh Part II, Exhibition Catalogue, Mt. San Antonio College. Curated by Fatemeh Burnes, Essay

by John Seed, Walnut, CA, 2014 “‘Unis’ at Charles Allis Museum: Unicorns Alive and Well on the East Side,” Kat Murrell, shepherdexpress.com, Aug 27, 2014 Body Language, Catalogue, Curated by George Herms, Center for Contemporary Art, Santa Ana, CA, 2014 Studio Visit Magazine, Volume 21, Curated by Dina Deitsch, Senior Curator of deCordova Sculpture Park & Museum, 2014 Daina Mattis, J. Cacciola Gallery, Forward by Jared Linge, New York, NY, 2014 The Other New York 2012, Exhibition Catalogue, The Everson Museum of Art, Syracuse, NY, 2012 On the Edge: Statements in Black and White, S-Cube Gallery, Exhibition Catalogue, Essay by Peter Frank, Laguna Beach, CA, 2011 Fishing From the Beach, Syracuse University Exhibition Catalogue, Introduction by David Ross, Curatorial Essay by Bard Curatorial Candidates: Janine Armin, Rachel Cook, Suzy Halajian, and Leora Morinis, 2011 “Head of the Class,” The Post-Standard, Art, Page 12, Sunday, May 1, 2011, Syracuse NY Riviera, Modern Luxury Magazine, December, pg. 20 & 74, 2010 Kentucky National 2011 Catalogue, Clara M. Eagle Gallery, Murray State University, Murray, KY

Daina Mattis | Family Style August 6 - September 20, 2020

Edition of 100

Publisher © 2020 Jared Linge HIGH NOON GALLERY

Art © 2019 - 2020 Daina Mattis Text © 2020 Carla Kessler

All rights reserved. No portion of this publication may be reprinted or reproduced in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, without prior permission from the publisher.

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cover (detail): Descent, 2020, oil and flock on linen, 54” x 60”