Matthew Choberka
To live in these times is in a lot of ways scary, and in all of my
recent works I’m working to acknowledge that, and to overcome
it. At times, in essence it feels like I’m making monsters. Maybe
it’s a way of trying to “fight fire with fire.” My recent practice
has coincided, surprisingly for me, with a return to figuration.
I’m not sure just how to explain the relationship between the
immateriality of the painted space and this desire to embody and
come to terms with our physical and psychic predicaments. But it
feels right. There’s a truth in there for me somewhere. My painting
addresses the instability and complexity of the contemporary
world. The images are autonomous, whole on their own terms (I
hope), but interrelated in an ongoing argument with myself about
the knowability of the other, and even of the self.