SOMETHING BLACK

    I'm always interested to see fresh interpretations of the oft-enacted subjects that compose American iconography. They have been painted, filmed, sprayed on public walls, sung about, torn into pieces; reconfigured and re-interpreted in countless ways over the past 5 decades. Yet, somehow, I still find myself intrigued...

    Showing at New York's Ace Hotel, Matt Black describes "Something Black" as "...an excursion into the bloodstream of American iconography; a personal subjective vision through the paragons of desire, violence, cities, and landscapes." Using layered composition of various symbols (see sun-soaked palm trees, black bandannas, crosses, stripes, and stars), Black creates broken cultural landscapes that ooze gloom.

    The distorted and eerie noir  mood evoked by his work reminds me of a certain 2011 musical gem, Dirty Beaches' 'Badlands', which you should check out afterwards here ,because it was one of the most interesting albums to come out of this crazy and soon-to-be bygone year.