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My Mac G5 is jealous of Matt Leines. Regardless of how large the screen or how sophisticated the software, it seems unlikely that any computer could produce the hyper-graphic results of Leines’ ink and watercolor drawings with as much confidence. The machine knows that the precision of Leines’ meticulously consistent hand and unpredictable creativity is unchallengeable. Technical shock-value, however, is only a small component of the acclaim behind Matt Leines’ first solo exhibition "The Promise of the North," at Roberts & Tilton, Los Angeles. At 26 years old, Matt Leines has already put fellow artists, curators and mega-collectors on high watch, inadvertently positioning himself as one of the most recent and relevant disciples of counter-culture. |
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My Mac G5 is jealous of Matt Leines. Regardless of how large the screen or how sophisticated the software, it seems unlikely that any computer could produce the hyper-graphic results of Leines’ ink and watercolor drawings with as much confidence. The machine knows that the precision of Leines’ meticulously consistent hand and unpredictable creativity is unchallengeable. Technical shock-value, however, is only a small component of the acclaim behind Matt Leines’ first solo exhibition "The Promise of the North," at Roberts & Tilton, Los Angeles. At 26 years old, Matt Leines has already put fellow artists, curators and mega-collectors on high watch, inadvertently positioning himself as one of the most recent and relevant disciples of counter-culture.
This particular exhibition had been long awaited. Although Leines has participated in countless group shows, the intensely laborious process of creating each drawing has prolonged his solo debut. To see 20 of these drawings together has made for a memorable and rare installation. Roberts & Tilton’s “project room” is painted to Leines’ specifications; the dirt-gray sky and margarine-yellow clouds create an unsettling backdrop for the creatures that seem to be part of his own reality. The consistency of subject, use of subtly extended primary color and tight placement of Leines’ work indicates a storyboard/graphic novel-type read that assumes Leines as both artist and storyteller. And while the physical arrangement of the pictures is based on aesthetics, the viewer is certainly encouraged or inspired to create her or his own narration.
From one frame to the next, wild beasts roam freely, warriors are defeated and shamans are revered. Leines is the creator of his fantastical world; he worships the non-existent, the imagined, the frightening, the defeated, the proud and the absurd. Mounted Warrior, 2006, displays a soldier in conular garment, sitting atop a mystical bear-like creature. Like many of Leines’ subjects, this Mounted Warrior is based on fabrication, yet the manner in which it is presented insinuates reality. While the beast is based on truth, the warrior’s dress is based on believability. For Leines, the figure becomes a vehicle for craft.
Patterns and intricacies comprise the subject, but the subject becomes the decorative element. In Untitled (Shaman), 2006, the interlocking and curling double lines form the beard and hair of the five-eyed portrait. Patterning is prevalent in Leines’ artistic decisions, both in terms of composition and appearance of the subject. Similar to early digital graphics used in video games and computer programs, Leines’ style is expressly decorative and deliberately flat. He plays with repetition like textile, but the most interesting part of Matt Leines’ artwork is the gaping range of personal interpretations. Described as Greek, Islamic, Byzantine, Viking, comic book or video game inspired, each viewer seems to hold onto her or his own association. Generally, each assertion is different; the familiarity however, is standard. The monochromatic Untitled (Red Heads), 2006, features seven similar warrior heads that overlap and recede. The entire 10.25” x 8” paper is consumed by pattern. As the viewer, a struggle takes place between one element over the next. When the technical skill is as refined as Leines’, the subject must be both unique and familiar. Leines artfully demonstrates both.
Although a figment, each creature is paid tribute in the historical sense; Leines is carefully documenting the history of his fantasies, of his imagination. Arguably, this is the ideal and prerogative of every working artist. Leines, however is joining the timeless with the sublimely contemporary. Each drawing evokes folkloric or mythological interpretation, yet the style rendered speaks to a childhood of Saturday morning cartoons, The Legend of Zelda and Sesame Street. The graphic quality is innate and an early footnote, signaling what will come as new generations of young artists develop and progress. It takes standing inches (and only inches) away from one of Leines’ drawings to appreciate the compulsive and exact skill of each tiny dot, connecting curl and unquivering line.
Even more impressively, Leines works in ink, allowing no occurrence for mistakes. With years of repetitious practice, Leines explains that he rarely errors. And then I start believing that Matt Leines is more magical Shaman than nice, normal guy from Jersey.
