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Press Release
The current exhibition at the Marsha Mateyka Gallery celebrates the act of drawing. The six artists included have exhibited at the gallery for many years. They are particularly well known for their innovative use of materials and their mastery of the drawing tradition. Nancy Wolf Reckless destruction of cultural sites and communities has long been the focus of the drawing of New York artist Nancy Wolf. Since the 1970's, the artist has perfected a style of architectural rendering to create surrealistic images that comment on urban renewal, contemporary architecture and misguided "progress". In 2004, Nancy Wolf was an artist-in-residence at the University of Hong Kong. While there, she was greatly impacted by the scale and speed of such changes in the urban environment. The three drawings in this exhibition are part of the artist's ongoing series about cultural loss and the speed of modernization in China. The Marsha Mateyka Gallery has represented Nancy Wolf since 1984. Her works are in the permanent collection of the Smithsonian American Art Museum and the Corcoran Gallery of Art.  Follies in a Grid, 2010 acrylic on paper 18 x 25 inches / framed 26 x 32.25 inches  Traffic Circle Mandala (Mandala Series), 2008 gouache and pencil on black museum board, 40 x 40 inches / framed 46.25 x 46.25 inches  Secluded Dwellings in Summer Mountains (after Wang Meng), 2003 pencil on paper, 16 x 19 inches / framed 24.75 x 27.75 inches Available works by Nancy Wolf |
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William T. Wiley
Drawing is an integral part of the work of West Coast artist William T. Wiley. He is known internationally for his combination of drawing with written text, painting and even sculpture, often in a single work. In this exhibition, two large drawings from 2007, "War Party" and "Planet Dangerfield" take a line for a walk into comment on politics and culture with humor. Recently, the artist's career was celebrated by the Smithsonian American Art Museum in a fifty year retrospective which opened in 2009 in Washington, DC and then traveled. William T. Wiley has been represented by the Marsha Mateyka Gallery in 11 solo exhibitions, since 1988. His works are in major museum collections throughout the country including the National Gallery of Art, Hirshhorn and Smithsonian American Art Museum.  War Party, 2007 mixed media on paper, 44 x 38.75 inches / framed 53 x 47 inches  Planet Dangerfield, 2007 mixed media on paper, 46 x 34 inches / framed 50.5 x 38 inches Available works by William T. Wiley |
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Nathan Oliveira
Nathan Oliveira, an acknowledged American Master, whose Estate is now represented by the Marsha Mateyka Gallery, first became known with the Bay Area Figurative painters in the late 1950's. This group of California artists, which also included Richard Diebenkorn and David Parks, were similar in their interest in combining the method of abstract expressionistic painting with figurative subject matter. In the current exhibition at the Marsha Mateyka Gallery, two figurative gestural watercolors represent Nathan Oliveira's mastery of both the medium and subject--by "drawing" with water, the artist has created puddles of color which actually conform to the anatomy of the pose. Touches of charcoal line augment the structure. The paintings, sculpture, monotypes and watercolors of Nathan Oliveira have been the subject of eight solo exhibitions at the gallery, since 1988. This artist's works are in museum collections throughout the United States and abroad.  Imi #73, 1989 watercolor and charcoal, 24 x 19 inches / framed 32 x 26.5 inches  Imi #63, 1989 watercolor and charcoal, 19 x 24 inches / framed 26 x 31 inches Available works by Nathan Oliveira |
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Jae Ko
Korean born, American artist Jae Ko is well known to Washington audiences for her unique use of paper to create sculpture. She is rapidly gaining recognition throughout the United States and abroad. For over three decades, this artist has focused on the sculptural possibilities of commercial grade paper, re-rolled and submitted to the action of water, the stresses of twisting or the forces of gravity. Last fall, using 400 rolls of brown Kraft paper, Jae Ko created "Force of Nature", a very large, striking, site-specific installation at The Phillips Collection. In this current exhibition, three works by the artist are unusual in their two dimensional approach. Manipulating the same materials of paper, glue and ink as she uses in her sculptures, the artist rakes one layer of glue and ink over another to draw the concentric imagery which is characteristic of her sculpture. Jae Ko's works are in the Hirshhorn Museum and the Corcoran Gallery of Art.  untitled (JKD#1), 2011 glue and calligraphy ink on paper, 12 x 18 inches / framed 18 x 23.25 inches  untitled (JKD#2), 2011 glue and calligraphy ink on paper, 12 x 18 inches / framed 18 x 23.25 inches  untitled (JKD#3), 2011 glue and calligraphy ink on paper, 12 x 18 inches / framed 18 x 23.25 inches Available works by Jae Ko |
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Gene Davis
Gene Davis gained international recognition in the early 1960's with his nonobjective, abstract striped imagery--now considered "classic". A native Washingtonian, the artist was famous as both a Washington Color school painter and Color Field artist, along with Morris Louis and Kenneth Noland. The drawings in the current exhibition, created just before his death in 1985, are not preparatory studies for his paintings but unique works in themselves. The two drawings in felt tipped pen are free hand and show the artist's willingness to experiment within the confines of his vertical stripe imagery. The large drawing in colored pencil is softer in its tones and is one of only three such works in the artist's oeuvre. The Marsha Mateyka Gallery has represented the Estate of Gene Davis since 1996 and is an authority on this artist’s work. Like Nathan Oliveira, Gene Davis's works are in major museum collections throughout the United States and abroad.  untitled (GD1346), 1981 felt tip pen on paper, 15 x 20.12 inches / framed 22.75 x 27.5 inches  untitled (GD1378), 1982 felt tip pen on paper, 15 x 20.12 inches / framed 22.75 x 27.5 inches  untitled (GD3109), 1984 colored pencil on paper, 44.5 x 30 inches / framed 53 x 38.75 inches Available works by Gene Davis |
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L.C. Armstrong
New York artist LC Armstrong creates a coiled line by drawing with a bomb fuse placed on a painted surface. She then lights the fuse to burn the line into the surface of the painting which is then encapsulated in resin. This work titled "Spring Fever" represents an early, purely abstract, exploration in this medium by the artist, who has since used her bomb fuse lines as stems in over-the-top floral extravaganzas. LC Armstrong's works are in the Corcoran Gallery of Art and the National Museum of Women in the Arts.  Spring Fever, 1997 acrylic, bomb fuse and resin on linen on wood, 42 x 36 inches |