During Easter season, artist Matt Swift’s show “Renewal” is gracing our sanctuary.

Renewal is an exhibition specifically curated for the easter and spring season featuring work from two of Matt Swift’s bodies of work. The exhibition features both abstract expressionist paintings from the artist five stages of grief series of single word mantra paintings to music with assistance of a robot vacuum and sacred geometry prints that the artist creates using original photography of flowers grown in his own gardens. The two styles of works are combined to provide a contrast in how mindfulness and meditation can be explored both through the emotional side of humanity as is done in the paintings, or through the exploration of the outside world as is done through the sacred geometry photographic prints. 

Abstract Expressionist Robot Vacuum Paintings

These works feature abstract expressionist performance paintings that combine human movement and robotic movement on a canvas while placing the paint on the canvas in response to music, through a concept using words, and/or through audience participation as movement or as providing words and colors to use on the canvas. The works displayed in the show come from a series of 10 paintings that focused on the five stages of grief. Two paintings were created as entry and exit points as the artist traveled the stages of grief by writing each stage name over and over on the canvas while using his whole body and a robot vacuum to then change the words into something new through a meditational outpouring of expression based on a singular song for each painting which is reflected in the title.

Sacred Geometry Prints of Ohio Plant Life

This body of work by Matt Swift utilizes the artist’s photography of plant life within Ohio, digitally manipulated using the theory of mathematical pathways to represent multiples of the plant which creates a unique geometric pattern. This concept of multiples of plants can be found throughout human history in cultures around the world primarily as graphical representations of plants. This work focuses on representing the original plants in shape and color but providing insight into the connective patterns that exist in nature.

Artist’s Bio and Price List

Matt Swift is an all-around visual artist living in Columbus, Ohio. His work is not limited to any one medium or mode including photography, painting, video, digital compositions, mixed media and anything else that may be a source of inspiration. With an education in Art History, Film and Media Studies, and Library Science, the majority of his work stems from a deep connection to the historical avant-garde and experimental movements of all art forms. Juxtaposition of styles to find new abstract connections is where most of his work begins. Every piece is scientifically and creatively an experiment with a hypothesis that is tested and either is proven or disproven. The end result encompasses a documentation of the experiment fit for a postmodern world, updating and educating about the styles of old through the lens of the plethora of information that is at the fingertips of our ever shrinking but also expanding digital world.

His current work is a conversation with alternative methods of landscape and portrait painting as performance to overcome his physical disability using various digital technologies. His recent work explores the intersection of human interaction and programmed robotics. His paintings embody the artist’s movements, application of paint, and interference with a robotic vacuum cleaner which through random object avoidance and rotating brushes serves as the mark making tool.

Renewal Works – Works in order from South to North

Paintings	Prints Set 1	Prints Set 2	Prints Set 3
I’m not Sleeping – Denial Tempera on Canvas 48”x48” $825	Lilac in 96 Views Pigment Print on Canvas 8”x8” $175	Asiatic Lily in 64 Views Pigment Print on Canvas 8”x8” $175	Wild Orchid and Tokyo Sun in 112 Views Pigment Print on Canvas 8”x8” $175
Raining in Baltimore – Depression Tempera on Canvas 48”x48” $825	Pokeberry in 16 Views Pigment Print on Canvas 8”x8” $175	Magnolia 64 Views Pigment Print on Canvas 8”x8” $175	Columbines in 64 Views Pigment Print on Canvas 8”x8” $175
Roof is Leaking – Bargaining Tempera on Canvas 48”x48” $825	Foxglove in 96 Views Pigment Print on Canvas 8”x8” $175	Daffodils in 96 Views Pigment Print on Canvas 8”x8” $175	Toad Lily in 32 Views Pigment Print on Canvas 8”x8” $175
Higher & Higher – Acceptance Tempera on Canvas 48”x48” $825	Wisteria in 128 Views Pigment Print on Canvas 8”x8” $175	White Salvia in 48 Views Pigment Print on Canvas 8”x8” $175	Lilac in 48 Views Pigment Print on Canvas 8”x8” $175