For many years, painter MATTHEW PAWLOWSKI has appropriated familiar images from the vast library of our shared visual culture. His interests lie in what he refers to as "cultural pictures" -- images from our collective social past, such as magazine advertisements, billboards, art history, and most recently the visual language of cinema, especially set design and decor. His goal is to retrieve these cultural images and provide a contemporary context in which to view them.

PAWLOWSKI feels that images from our collective visual past contain a power that magnifies over time, and film contains many layers of visual information that can act as metaphors, sending the viewer messages about the characters and themes they see. In his current series, PAWLOWSKI explores how set designers look to traditional as well as historical patterns to help firm-up the story and give it further meaning.

He is also attracted to the romantic notion of lives cut short. Recently he has been focusing on the films of Natalie Wood and Steve McQueen, whose premature deaths have become topics of cultural focus. Celebrity is an incredibly powerful touchstone in the public discourse, and PAWLOWSKI is attracted to the idea of capturing the atmospheres of these lives on film. The decorative aspects of movie sets provide information that speaks to these atmospheres. Through exploration of this iconic imagery, PAWLOWSKI investigates the power of things that remain outside the center of our attention. He is interested in the area where decorative elements become symbols of our dreams.

Contact us directly at 612.332.2386 for further information about this artist.