REFRACTION/DIFFRACTION

Matt Scheffler

August 31- September 19, 2018

Castellain Gallery is pleased to present REFRACTION/DIFFRACTION, by Matt Scheffler. The exhibition includes two distinct bodies of work, Subterranean Hyperspace and Study in Blue No. 1, and marks the artist’s first show dedicated entirely to the materiality of the photographic medium. Featuring a multimedia sculpture and cyanotypes from 2018, the exhibition will showcase the artist's experimentation with light, motion, and procedure.

Subterranean Hyperspace is a multimedia sculpture that explores the voyeuristic nature of public transportation. By projecting footage of a moving subway car through waves of water, the artist defamiliarizes our daily commute and dives into a separate universe, both foreign and familiar. Each car is in itself a fish tank, however, those inside are not only being watched, but watchers as well. Peering through the glass of this confinement, two separate ecosystems converge for a fleeting moment before trailing off into the distance. The title of the work refers to not only its existence in a world below, but the ephemeral alignments that occur only there.

Study in Blue No. 1 is an investigation by the artist into the procedure behind photography. Exploring the idea that a photograph is not taken, but made, Scheffler highlights the scientific and chemical process of the medium while simultaneously embracing the randomness of variables like shadow, light, and time. Capturing the effects of non traditional materials like glass and water on canvas, paper, and drywall, Scheffler transforms each surface into both a camera and its exposure, made without a shutter in real time. The outcome is a marriage between what the artist initially thought the image might look like, and the physical happenstance of the procedure: a crystallization of the unforeseen.

Matt Scheffler (born 1996, Nanjing, China) is a Brooklyn based artist and photographer. Graduating with distinction from Fordham University in 2018, he has exhibited work at the Ildiko Butler Gallery, and Castellain Gallery. Most recently on view this year was Motherland, in which Scheffler explores themes of identity and family within the context of transnational adoption through photography. This is his first solo exhibition.

 Opening Reception: 7-9pm on August 31, 2018