Exhibit will open First Friday, September 4th, 2020, with artists talk at 6:30pm.
Exhibit run: September 4th - October 22nd, 2020, Craddock-Terry Gallery at Riverviews Artspace.
Gallery Hours By Appointment Only:
Thursday & Friday: 2pm-7pm
Saturday & Sunday: 10am-4pm
Painting is still one of the most popular media among traditional and contemporary artists. Riverviews will be bringing together two upcoming painters for an exhibition of 2D works, both of whom begin each painting with looking inward. Matthew Roberston and Elaine Qiu focus their narrative in the same ways we as humans approach life, better known as the human experience. Qiu prefers to “let the painting lead the way” and allows for mistakes and improvisations as part of her process. Robertson’s main inspiration come from personal memory and the role it plays in one’s identity. Both artists teeter between figurative and abstract work, but their unique styles in handling the media help to create an interesting and dynamic exhibition.
ARTIST STATEMENTS
Elaine Qiu
I paint to understand our existence—this life and our relationship to one another. I spend time alone in the studio in an inward solitude seeking to give an image to the unnamable and the unspeakable.
For me, painting is my way of looking more deeply into what lies beneath the surface of things. I try not to let the subject matter dominate or push a narrative. Rather, I let the painting lead the way. I embrace accidents, as they often take the painting in a new direction. There is no pre-planned composition, no pre-determined vision, no fixed sequence. Instead, the painting process becomes an inward journey that consists of constant selecting, examining, rearranging, breaking, reconnecting, discarding and, above all, discovering.
Check out her video below from her CURTAINS series, which was shown at the Stamp Gallery at The University of Maryland.
Matthew Robertson
I am fascinated with the phenomena of memory; the frequent and involuntary envisioning of past traumas, the fractured and incomplete quality of our recollections and the misapprehension of one’s past. Developing a visual language to depict these qualities of remembrance is the focus of my current work. All of the paintings in this exhibition are an exploration of the dreamlike and often symbolic characteristics of my own childhood memories.
EXHIBIT CATALOG
Click each image to view information.
IF YOU ARE INTERESTED IN PURCHASING ARTWORK IN THIS EXHIBIT, PLEASE CONTACT OUR ASSISTANT CURATOR MEG WESTON AT MEG@RIVERVIEWS.NET
ABOUT THE ARTISTS
Elaine Qiu is currently a University of Maryland MFA candidate. She graduated in 2016 from George Mason University with a BFA with honors in painting. Qiu’s works has been shown in numerous group shows since 2016 and one solo exhibition, The Mystery of You, at the Torpedo Factory Art Center in Alexandria, VA.
www.elaineqiu.work | @elaineqiuart
Matthew Roberston is also currently enrolled in the MFA program at the University of Maryland in College Park. In 2012, he received his BFA at the Academy of Art University in San Francisco CA. Recently, he had been through Eurpoe’s museums from Paris to Madrid and did a workshop in the Czech Republic. His work has shown at Modern Eden Gallery for group and solo exhibits and a group show at the Stamp Gallery at the Univeristy of Maryland."
www.matthewrobertsonart.com | @matthewrobertsonart