Blind Alley projects
Press Release
MATTHEW BOURBON: THE WEATHER INSIDE
September 30 thru November 4
Location: 3317 West 4th Street, Fort Worth, Texas 76107
Hours: daylight
MATTHEW BOURBON: THE WEATHER INSIDE, installation detail, Blind Alley projects
Blind Alley projects is pleased to announce MATTHEW BOURBON: THE WEATHER INSIDE, opening today with a meet-the-artist event tomorrow, Sunday 10/1 from 3 to 5pm at the gallery.
Bourbon’s installation is considered and generous as he explains, “Blind Alley projects is unique. The history of inviting artists to create something distinctive for the venue is a kind of gift to the
community—an offering of communication to any passerby. In keeping with this ethos, I made a large painting, 36 drawings, and ancillary objects that arise from my curiosity about interiority and communion. Through the act of making the painting, drawings, and objects I wondered about boundaries, permeability, and the connective timbres found among things visible and invisible. I thought about how the internal space of a painting reflects the alcove-like space of the modest Blind Alley building, as well as the inward nature of our bodies, minds, and spirits.”
In response to what Bourbon perceives to be the generosity of Blind Alley projects as an offering to visitors and passersby, he has commissioned a small wood and steel container hanging on the viewer’s side of the gallery’s large glass window which incases the interior installation of a painting floating in the space and objects related to the act of meditation placed in front of it, to house daily “speed” drawings. “As the title Given suggests,” the artist explains “I am giving these drawings to whomever may want them. It’s an experiment. If you fancy a drawing, please take it home as my gift to you and to the community of viewers of Blind Alley Projects. It will be replaced the next day (at random times) with a different drawing for the next viewer that might want it. If no one takes a daily drawing, it will return to the stack, and a new one will be presented the following day. Do not be shy—these are meant for you. Just gently pull open the frame at the right side and carefully remove the small magnets holding the drawing. Please replace the magnets and close the frame when you have retrieved your drawing. If no
drawing is present, then someone has come before you and decided to take it home. There is always tomorrow.”
MATTHEW BOURBON: THE WEATHER INSIDE is a give-and-take of introspection and reflection as it engages its environment and all those who accept its offerings by viewing, considering and otherwise participating in this compelling installation.
Artist’s bio
Matthew Bourbon is a painter, art critic, and a Professor of Art at the College of Visual Arts and Design. Originally from the San Francisco Bay Area, Bourbon earned separate undergraduate degrees in Studio Art and Art History from the University of California at Davis. Relocating to New York City, he earned his Master of Fine Arts degree from the School of Visual Arts. Since then, his art has been exhibited nationally and internationally, including Wider West at the Oil Tank Culture Park in Seoul, South Korea, C’est de la Peinture! at Bankley Studios and Gallery,
Manchester, England, Time, Space, and Process at Bethel University, St. Paul, MN, and Waiting for Now at the Old Jail Art Center Museum here in Texas. His work was also shown in conjunction with The Artist's Eye lecture series at the Kimbell Art Museum in Fort Worth. Bourbon has won numerous awards for his work, including the Otis and Velma Davis Dozier Travel Grant by the Dallas Museum of Art to conduct research in Japan. He’s been selected on
numerous occasions to be included in the Texas Biennial and for the publication New American Paintings. Bourbon was named an Institute for the Advancement of the Arts Faculty Fellow 2015/16, and in 2017 he received the Creative Impact Award from the University of North Texas. He shows locally at Kirk Hopper Fine Arts in Dallas. Bourbon is also an active art critic, contributing to Art Forum, Flash Art, ArtNews, New York Arts Magazine, and
Glasstire Online Arts Journal. He served for several years as the regional editor for the much-loved journal Art Lies.