Philip Martin Gallery is proud to present, "Love Looks Not With the Eyes," an online exhibition of works by Los Angeles-based, Austrian artist Hubert Schmalix (b. 1952) presented in context with that of Pamela Jorden and Christy Matson. In their respective bodies of work, these three artists consider the relation of landscape and abstraction. "Love Looks Not With the Eyes" runs concurrently with Hubert Schmalix's solo exhibition, “Flower, Figure, Landscape” currently on view at the gallery through March 15.
"Love Looks Not With the Eyes" takes inspiration from Hubert Schmalix's comment, “Every painting is abstract to me - even if it is a realistic image.” Schmalix makes a deep and nuanced point with regard to how we experience the things we create. In his work, Hubert Schmalix draws on years of painting practice. His hand is steady, slow and graceful. His images reflect consideration of European, American and Asian traditions. We see chalets, mountains, forests, hills and flowers rendered in a colorful, deliberative flat style that allows us to both see and experience the scene in front of which we stand.
In her shaped works, Pamela Jorden applies paint in directed, pushed and dragged flows, actively and physically manipulating the material of her paintings. Given their shaped perimeters, Jorden's pictures are in some sense sculptures as well as paintings. Jorden says that, “It interests me to figure out how a color works in a painting, how I can undermine and alter its intensity, or how a color relationship can create a vibration and tension that keeps movement happening.” Jorden often refers to landscape and qualities of light in her work, associating the exposed areas of linen with the color and texture of the sandy soil of Southern California, where she lives. "My paintings are improvisations, exploring qualities of reflection, energy, movement, magnetism, and light."
Christy Matson’s woven, wall-mounted works combine the skill, sensitivity and craft of painting and hand weaving with the artist-directed process of an industrial Jacquard loom. The result is an art object of beauty and depth that reveals important details with regard to art objects, how we make them, and how we look at them. Matson begins her process with watercolors, ink drawings, collages and other works on paper. Matson comments that she is often thinking about landscape; how we look at them; and how we read them in art. Her work considers the back-and-forth in both looking and experiencing, opening avenues by which we can do the same.
Pamela JORDEN (b. 1969, Knoxville, TN) received a BFA from the University of Tennessee (Knoxville, TN) in 1992 and an MFA from California Institute of the Arts (Valencia, CA) in 1996. Pamela Jorden's work is the subject of "Light Falls," a new book published by Philip Martin Gallery. Recent museum shows include Rhode Island School of Design Museum (Providence, RI); Abroms-Engel Institute for the Visual Arts (Birmingham, AL); University of Redlands Art Gallery (Redlands, CA); Pizzuti Collection (Columbus, OH); and Mason Gross Art Gallery at Rutgers University (New Brunswick, NJ). Recent solo and group gallery exhibitions include Philip Martin Gallery (Los Angeles, CA); Klaus von Nichtssagend Gallery (New York, NY); Romer Young Gallery (San Francisco, CA); Brennan & Griffin (New York, NY); and Seterah Gallery (Düsseldorf, Germany). Pamela Jorden’s work is included in the collections of Abroms-Engel Institute for the Visual Arts/University of Alabama at Birmingham (Birmingham, AL); Columbus Museum of Art/Pizzuti Collection (Columbus, OH); Ewing Gallery of Art and Architecture, University of Tennessee (Knoxville, TN); Fidelity Collection (Boston, MA); Massachusetts Intitute of Technology List Museum (Boston, MA); New York-Presbyterian Hospital (New York, NY); Rhode Island School of Design Museum (Providence, RI). Jorden's work has been written about in numerous publications such as Artforum, Los Angeles Times, The New York Times, and Art in America. Jorden lives and works in Los Angeles, CA.
Christy MATSON (b. 1979, Seattle, WA) received her BFA from the University of Washington (Seattle, WA) and her MFA from California College of the Arts (San Francisco, CA). Christy Matson's work is the subject of "Index Color," a new book published by Philip Martin Gallery. Recent exhibitions include Philip Martin Gallery (Los Angeles, CA); Milwaukee Art Museum (Milwaukee, WI); Cranbook Museum of Art (Bloomfield Hills, MI); Long Beach Museum of Art (Long Beach, CA); “Beyond: Tapestry Expanded,” Peeler Art Center, DePauw University (Greencastle, IN); “Arcadia and Elsewhere,” James Cohan Gallery (New York, NY); “Seeing Chicago,” curated by Duro Olowu, Museum of Contemporary Art (Chicago, IL); “40 Under 40: Craft Futures,” Smithsonian Museum of American Art (Washington, DC); John Michael Kohler Art Center (Sheboygan, WI); Contemporary Arts Museum (Houston, TX); Knoxville Museum of Art (Knoxville, TN); Municipio di Maniago, (Pordenone Italy); Virginia Commonwealth University (Richmond, VA); Ciurlionis National Museum of Art (Kaunas, Lithuania); Hyde Park Art Center (Chicago, IL); Bakersfield Museum of Art (Bakersfield, CA); Craft and Folk Art Museum, (Los Angeles, CA); and Museum of Craft and Folk Art (San Francisco, CA). Articles and reviews on Christy Matson’s work have appeared in the New York Times, Los Angeles Times, San Francisco Chronicle, Sculpture, Fiber Arts, Textile, Artillery, Surface Design Journal and Time Out. Christy Matson lives and works in Los Angeles, CA.
Hubert SCHMALIX (b. 1952 Graz, Austria) is currently the subject “Flower, Figure, Landscape" at Philip Martin Gallery (Los Angeles, CA). Schmalix's work is also the subject of a current exhibition at Schlossmuseum Linz (Linz Castle). Important exhibitions featuring Schmalix’s work include Venice Biennale (1993, Venice Italy); Foundation Cartier (1986, Paris, France); “An International Survey of Recent Painting and Sculpture” (1984, Museum of Modern Art, New York); and Biennale Sydney (1984, Sydney, Australia). Recent and upcoming solo museum exhibitions include Schlossmuseum Linz (2024, Linz, Austria) and Neue Galerie Graz, Universalmuseum Joanneum. Graz (2023, Graz, Austria). Schmalix’s work has been featured in solo and group shows at Museum of Modern Art (New York, NY); Museum Moderner Kunst (Vienna, Austria); Kunsthaus Bregenz (Bregenz, Austria); Schlossmuseum Linz (Linz, Austria); Neue Galerie Graz am Landesmuseum Joanneum (Graz, Austria); Museum der Moderne (Salzburg, Austria); Sammlung Essl, (Vienna, Austria); Kunstmuseum Winterthur (Winterthur, Switzerland); Folkwang Museum (Essen, Germany); Kunstverein München (Munich, Germany); Sammlung Grothe (Duisburg, Germany); Bundeskunsthalle Bonn (Bonn, Germany); Mannheimer Kunstverein (Mannheim, Germany); Österreichisches Kulturinstitut (Paris, France); Galleria d’Arte Moderna (Bologna, Italy); Museo di Roma-Palazzo Braschi (Rome, Italy); Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian (Lisbon, Portugal); Fundación la Caixa (Madrid, Spain); Kunsthalle Budapest (Budapest, Hungary). Museum collections include Neue Galerie Graz - Universalmuseum Joanneum, Graz; Österreichische Galerie, Belvedere, Vienna; Museum Moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig, Vienna; Sammlung Essl; Albertina Modern, Vienna; Museum der Moderne Salzburg Rupertinum; Kunsthaus Bregenz; Lentos Kunstmuseum, Linz; Herbert Liaunig, Privatstiftung, Neuhaus; Museum Angerlehner, Upper Austria; Sammlung Krinzinger, Vienna; Kunstmuseum Bern. Hubert Schmalix lives and works in Los Angeles.
Hubert Schmalix, Pamela Jorden and Christy Matson's exhibition, "Love Looks Not With the Eyes” is online March 5 - March 19, 2025. All works may be viewed at the gallery on request.
Philip Martin Gallery is open Wednesday-Saturday 11-5 and Tuesdays by appointment. The gallery is located at 3342 Verdugo Road, Los Angeles CA 90065. For additional images and information please call 323-507-2037 or email info@philipmartingallery.com.
