Press Release
“Matthew Lopas has painted interiors for over ten years. He is fascinated with the quality of a space — of presences inherent in its volume — and has become adept at translating, compressing, extending and enlivening such spaces on canvas: interior and exterior personal spaces with which he is intimately familiar. Lopas explains that his intention is to share his life, reflected through his paintings, in a straightforward way so people can understand him. Straightforward is a relative term; however, there is no doubt that we are beckoned by his thoughtfully composed paintings to stroll through them the way we would our own home in quiet moments of reflection — increasing the potential for a satisfying visual conversation.”
“It is not surprising, then, that in Lopas paintings, ceiling lines arch, baseboards stretch, and walls swell: the distortions serving to include, rather than confuse, information. Hallways open room to room and unadorned glass dissolves boundaries inside to out, as sunlight or lamplight connects, reveals, intensifies, or calms according to plan. The height and depth, and the width of the vision, point to the artist’s desire to go into wider worlds: to allow his observations to include distant space while providing a centrifugal hub around which multiple vantage points slide, twirl, and pause. All of this, and color, too. Lopas explains that this vastness, unrelated to canvas size, results from compositional choices: the size and number of elements and a focus on relationships of items that lead the eye from one object to another, and from one room to another. He writes that he pushes this technique until “the tightness vibrates.” –Barbara Satterfield