Matthew Porter

M+B is pleased to present News From Nowhere, Matthew Porter’s fifth solo exhibition with the gallery. The show runs from June 30 to August 25, 2018, with an opening reception on Saturday, June 30 from 6 to 8 pm. 

The exhibition consists of a series of color and black & white photographs, depicting a fictional place that centers around the construction, abandonment, and rediscovery of a series of dome structures. The location is a tropical island, and three discrete characters make appearances. They are seen performing tasks, but their roles, and the timeline of their involvement, is never clear. Part science fiction, part fantasy, and part narrative riff, the work is a nod to both the real and literary tradition of placing stories of post colonial hubris in tropical locations. 

Five domes erected in the sea, bone white and wind scarred. The mystic palm, ragged-edged, dips in the breeze. White planes, black birds. A ship cuts a dark notch on the hard edge of a bright sky. A man is clearing the site, gathering stems. Later, a woman takes a reading. The sun touches the horizon. News from nowhere. 

All the characters in this story are fictitious, except for the large Frigate Bird that appears in many of the pictures. I’ve made certain assumptions about the size of the bird, which may be challenged by some ornithologists. I do not think, however, that they will be questioned by those who have spent time in the palm-fringed parts of the world, where sightings of birds several times the size of recorded specimens are frequently reported.

Matthew Porter (b. 1975, State College, PA) received his BA from Bard College and his MFA from Bard-ICP. His work has been included in the recent thematic exhibitions Autophoto at the Fondation Cartier, Paris; Matter of Memory: Photography as Object in the Digital Age at the George Eastman Museum, Rochester, NY; Polaroids: The Disappearing at Nathalie Karg Gallery, New York, After Photoshop at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; and Perspectives at the International Center of Photography Museum, New York. Porter's curatorial projects include Soft Target, organized with Phil Chang at M+B, Los Angeles; Seven Summits at Mount Tremper Arts, New York; and The Crystal Chain at Invisible Exports, New York. He is the co-editor of Blind Spot magazine Issue 45 and his writings and interviews have been featured in Triple Canopy, Blind Spot, Artforum and Canteen. The artist’s work is held in the permanent collections of The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; Cincinnati Art Museum, Ohio; and the UBS Art Collection, New York, among others. In 2015, MACK Books published his first monograph, Archipelago. Matthew Porter lives and works in Brooklyn. 

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