Kim Matthews | The Glow of Love

Opening September 15 and running through November 15, the show is made up of Matthews newest sculptures, from 2021-2022. The modestly sized wall-mounted and freestanding sculptures in Kim Matthews’ second exhibition with the gallery, titled after a 1980 song by the post-disco group Change, are geometry splashing through color. They bring us somewhere new, inspiring fresh perspectives on the way objects and our selves exist in the world.

Her work reflects a deep knowledge of art, simultaneously presenting a Brancusi joke and an affectionate homage in Nerd in Space. A similar wink at the male art-world pantheon is Baker’s Dozen, a stack of not exactly Judd-like neon-hued modules with striped pyramids and bases patterned variously with circles, triangles, checks, and other shapes. This is deep fun!

“My work plays with pairs of opposites: rough and smooth textures, light and dark colors, or complements, and a “handmade geometry” that combines control and accident. Repeating similar elements highlights small differences and can make an otherwise regular, stable work vibrate, sing, or wobble.

The works in this exhibition are examples of this approach. Although the styrofoam blocks I use as armatures are machine made, each is unique and has flaws and other evidence of its manufacture. Coating the forms with concrete adds still more irregularities in surface texture. Finally, painting and drawing on these rough surfaces results in skips, smudges, and strategic do-overs.”

-Kim Matthews

Always beautiful and carefully conceived, her works touch the heart: there is deep spiritual depth to be had along with the color-filled joy and inherent nostalgia for good design.The Susan Hensel Gallery is proud to present this incredible exhibit as an online exclusive show as well as a window show.

The Susan Hensel Gallery focuses on compelling objects, meaningful use of materials and engaging sculpture, now available through its online space. It is a gallery where experimental ideas and works of the hand join to create unique sensory experiences. Susan Hensel Gallery represents a small group of Midwest artists, including Linda King Ferguson, Ingrid Restemayer, Nina Martine Robinson, Kim Matthews, K. Daphnae Koop, Christopher Rowley and Martha Bird.

Visit Artsy.net/susan-hensel-gallery to see the online exclusive show The Glow of Love beginning September 15th and running until November 15th, 2022.