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Matthew Chambers — Volver
Matthew Chambers

Volver

2016

Volver draws the eye into a tightly organized yet quietly restless surface, where Chambers layers acrylic and enamel-based adhesive with nylon and rayon fibers to create a work that sits between painting and textile, between control and accident. The fibers, embedded within the paint rather than applied as decoration, introduce a tactile density that rewards close looking, shifting the reading of the canvas from flat composition to something closer to woven matter. At 182.9 by 106.7 centimeters, the work commands a wall with presence, its scale insisting on a physical encounter that smaller reproductions cannot fully communicate. Chambers has long been interested in the boundaries between craft traditions and contemporary abstraction, and Volver represents a mature articulation of that inquiry. The title, drawn from the Spanish verb meaning to return or to turn back, suggests cycles and repetition, themes that resonate in the rhythmic, near-systematic way the surface is built up. There is a meditative quality to the work, as if each gesture records both an action and a considered revision of it. The artist's handmade frame, noted as part of the original work though offered unframed here, underscores the degree to which Chambers treats the object as a total proposition rather than a painting in isolation. Available through Feuer/Mesler, this signed work from 2016 represents a significant moment in Chambers's development, when the fiber-embedded technique had reached a refined fluency. For collectors drawn to painting that carries the evidence of process without sacrificing compositional rigor, Volver offers a compelling and durable example of one of the more quietly singular practices working in abstraction today.

Medium
Acrylic, enamel based adhesive, nylon and rayon fibers on canvas in artist's frame
Overall
Signed
Yes

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About this work

Matthew Chambers, Volver, 2016

Volver draws the eye into a tightly organized yet quietly restless surface, where Chambers layers acrylic and enamel-based adhesive with nylon and rayon fibers to create a work that sits between painting and textile, between control and accident. The fibers, embedded within the paint rather than applied as decoration, introduce a tactile density that rewards close looking, shifting the reading of the canvas from flat composition to something closer to woven matter. At 182.9 by 106.7 centimeters, the work commands a wall with presence, its scale insisting on a physical encounter that smaller reproductions cannot fully communicate. Chambers has long been interested in the boundaries between craft traditions and contemporary abstraction, and Volver represents a mature articulation of that inquiry. The title, drawn from the Spanish verb meaning to return or to turn back, suggests cycles and repetition, themes that resonate in the rhythmic, near-systematic way the surface is built up. There is a meditative quality to the work, as if each gesture records both an action and a considered revision of it. The artist's handmade frame, noted as part of the original work though offered unframed here, underscores the degree to which Chambers treats the object as a total proposition rather than a painting in isolation. Available through Feuer/Mesler, this signed work from 2016 represents a significant moment in Chambers's development, when the fiber-embedded technique had reached a refined fluency. For collectors drawn to painting that carries the evidence of process without sacrificing compositional rigor, Volver offers a compelling and durable example of one of the more quietly singular practices working in abstraction today.

Medium
Acrylic, enamel based adhesive, nylon and rayon fibers on canvas in artist's frame
Dimensions
overall: 182.9 x 106.7 cm
Year
2016
Signed
Hand-signed by the artist
Seen at
Feuer/Mesler

Related themes

Mohn Art Collective

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