REPETITION, SIMULATION, REPETITION: MATHEW ZEFELDT

Exhibition Dates: October 16 – December 28, 2014

In his exhibition Repetition, Simulation, Repetition, Mathew Zefeldt’s brightly colored acrylic paintings of 16-bit graphics and textures are appropriated directly from vintage video games that many people will remember playing as teenagers, classics such as DOOM, Super Mario Brothers, and Castle Wolfenstein. The themes of life and death, both real and virtual, are repeated throughout his work, as seen in his use of traditional memento mori, such as funerary reliefs and vanitas paintings. It may appear that the bricks and hero’s face in “When You’re Dead, You’re Dead” are cut, then pasted, but each detail is meticulously hand painted. Gallery walls covered floor to ceiling with sheets of 16-bit brick vinyl wallpaper will complement the paintings.

http://new.artsmia.org/exhibitions/maep/