Monochromes (2006 - present)

I have been thinking about the problem of monochrome painting for more than two decades, in particular how rigidly dogmatic and downright suffocating it can often be. I have played with idea of what makes a painting, an abstraction, and its endgame — a monochrome — through a wide array of conceptual strategies, materials, and processes. I’ve expressed these ideas through spray paint, plastic bags, colored light, blank walls, masking tape, bricks, performance, and more.

Matthew Deleget, Nuclear Error, 2012, Black plastic garbage bags, hung upside down, static electricity, black pushpins, 165 x 147 inches, Installation view in Matthew Deleget: Pictures at an Exhibition, Cress Gallery of Art, University of Tennessee, Chattanooga, TN, 2012 (#11)

Matthew Deleget, Failed State, 2015, Black plastic garbage bags, hung upside down, static electricity, black pushpins, Dimensions variable, Installation view at Lesley Heller Gallery, New York, NY, 2015 (#430)

Matthew Deleget, Failed State (detail), 2015, Black plastic garbage bags, hung upside down, static electricity, black pushpins, Dimensions variable, Installation view at Lesley Heller Gallery, New York, NY, 2015 (#430)

Matthew Deleget, I Love You, 2007, Used plastic shopping bags in 9 colors mounted on 9 panels, Dimensions variable, Installation view at Gallery Sonja Roesch, Houston, TX, 2007 (#162)

Matthew Deleget, Uphill and into the Wind, 2014, Two blue plastic bags stretched over panel, diptych, 20 x 34 inches overall (#47)

Matthew Deleget, On the Back of a Hurricane (for Rudolf de Crignis), 2008, Blue monochrome, blue plastic shopping bag mounted on panel, 12 x 12 inches; Private collection, Ohio (#171)

Matthew Deleget, Overlord (American Dream), 2007, Black monochrome, black plastic garbage bag, 36 x 33 inches, Edition of 20 (#172)

Matthew Deleget, Unknown Knowns, 2012, Black t-shirt with Joy Division’s Unknown Pleasures album cover design designed by Peter Saville, worn by the artist for 10 years, stretched over panel, 20 x 16 inches, Installation view in Matthew Deleget: Ceremony, Alejandra von Hartz Gallery, Miami, FL, 2012

Matthew Deleget, Softedge (detail), 2012, Wooden panel cover with 10 rolls of 2-inch blue painter’s tape, 16.5 x 12.5 x 2.25 inches, Installation view in Matthew Deleget: Pictures at an Exhibition, Cress Gallery of Art, University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, Chattanooga, TN, 2012; Private collection, California (#7)

Matthew Deleget, White Supremacist Composition, 2007, White monochrome, framed sheet of white foam stickers with Christian symbols (readymade, purchased at Christian novelty store in Texas), 16 x 14 inches framed (#83)

Matthew Deleget, Color Vulture, 2012, 3 off the shelf white canvases, red, yellow, and blue spotlights, Dimensions variable, canvases 24 x 20 inches each, Installation view in Matthew Deleget: Pictures at an Exhibition, Cress Gallery of Art, University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, Chattanooga, TN, 2012; Collection of the University of Tennessee (#10)

Matthew Deleget, Pleasure Zone (detail), 2012, Three rolls of colored masking tape, colored pushpins, 5 x 15 x 3/4 inches, Installation view in Matthew Deleget: Pictures at an Exhibition, Cress Gallery of Art, University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, Chattanooga, TN, 2012 (#14)

Matthew Deleget, Threesome, 2012, 3 paint roller covers, red, yellow and blue paint, Dimensions variable, Installation view in Matthew Deleget: Pictures at an Exhibition, Cress Gallery of Art, University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, Chattanooga, TN, 2012 (#13)

Matthew Deleget, 1%, 2012, Gold enamel spray paint on 15 used bricks scavenged by the artist in Boerum Hill, Brooklyn, NYC, 12 inches high x 20 inches wide x 8 inches deep, Installation view in Matthew Deleget: Ceremony, Alejandra von Hartz Gallery, Miami, FL, 2012

Matthew Deleget, One Thousand People Just Like Me, 2012, Gray sheetrock screws installed on a grid, 100 x 190 inches, Installation view in Matthew Deleget: Pictures at an Exhibition, Cress Gallery of Art, University of Tennessee, Chattanooga, TN, 2012 (#8)

Matthew Deleget, One Thousand People Just Like Me (detail), 2012, Gray sheetrock screws installed on a grid, 100 x 190 inches, Installation view in Matthew Deleget: Pictures at an Exhibition, Cress Gallery of Art, University of Tennessee at Chattanooga, Chattanooga, TN, 2012 (#8)

Matthew Deleget, Monochrome (Sleeper Cells), 2007, White monochrome paintings, flat white latex paint on three mirrored papers, silver pushpins, 40 x 100 inches overall; each panel 40 x 32 inches, Installation view in Notations: The Cage Effect Today, Hunter College Times Square Gallery, New York, NY, 2012 (#37)

Matthew Deleget, Monochrome (Sleeper Cells) (detail), 2007, White monochrome paintings, flat white latex paint on three mirrored papers, silver pushpins, 40 x 100 inches overall; each panel 40 x 32 inches, Installation view in Notations: The Cage Effect Today, Hunter College Times Square Gallery, New York, NY, 2012 (#37)

Matthew Deleget, Wild Stijl, 2017, Enamel spray paint on 3 panels and wall, 110 x 124 inches / 280 x 314 cm approximately, Installation view in 100 Years After De Stijl, Museum De Lakenhal, Leiden, The Netherlands, 2017, Photo by Matthias Seidel (#196)

Matthew Deleget, War Monochromes, 2010, Spray paint on canvases and wall, colors include red, black, green, fluorescent orange, silver and yellow, Dimensions variable, Installation view at The Engine Room, Massey University, Wellington, New Zealand, 2010 (#77)

Matthew Deleget, War Monochromes, 2009, Spray paint on canvases and wall, colors include red, black, green, fluorescent orange, silver and yellow, Dimensions variable, Installation view at Project Space Spare Room, RMIT University, Melbourne, Australia, 2007 (#77)

Matthew Deleget, War Monochromes, 2007, Spray paint on canvases and wall, colors include red, black, green, fluorescent orange, silver and yellow, Dimensions variable, Installation view at Sydney Non Objective, Sydney, Australia, 2007 (#77)

Matthew Deleget, It All Comes Down to Nothing (for Victor Gonzalez), 2011, Black, gray and white spray paint on canvases and wall, Dimensions variable, Installation view in 1st International Festival of Non-Objective Art, Pont de Claix, Grenoble, France, 2011 (#16)

Matthew Deleget, War Monochromes (Blood & Treasure), 2009, Red and gold enamal spray paint on two canvases and wall, 20 x 16 inches each, Installation view at 532 Gallery Thomas Jaeckel, New York, NY, 2009 (#76)

Matthew Deleget, War Monochromes (Blood & Treasure) (detail), 2009, Red and gold enamal spray paint on two canvases and wall, 20 x 16 inches each (#76)

Matthew Deleget, Monochrome (Asymmetric Warfare), 2007, Black monochrome painting, black spray paint on canvas and wall, 36 x 24 inches approximately, Installation view at Tobey Fine Arts, New York, NY, 2007 (#176)

Matthew Deleget, Monochrome (Asymmetric Warfare) (detail), 2007, Black monochrome painting, black spray paint on canvas and wall, 36 x 24 inches approximately (#176)

Matthew Deleget, War Monochrome (Sleeper Cell), 2007, White monochrome painting, white spray paint on canvas and an off-white wall, 16 x 20 inches, Installation view at rm103, Auckland, New Zealand, 2007 (#177)

Matthew Deleget, From Bad to Worse to Truly Terrible, 2007, Black monochrome paintings, gloss black latex paint over flat black latex paint on canvas, Dimensions variable, 8, 12, and 16 inches in diameter, Installation view at Sideshow, Brooklyn, NY, 2007 (#174)

Matthew Deleget, From Bad to Worse to Truly Terrible (detail), 2007, Black monochrome paintings, gloss black latex paint over flat black latex paint on canvas, Dimensions variable, 8, 12, and 16 inches in diameter (#174)

Matthew Deleget & Rossana Martinez, Heart on Fire, 2006, Collaborative performance in Parc de Bruxelles Warande and subsequent site-specific installation, H29, Brussels, Belgium

Matthew Deleget & Rossana Martinez, Heart on Fire, 2006, Color photograph, framed, 8.5 x 11 inches, 14.5 x 17 inches framed, Edition open (#195)

Matthew Deleget, End of Empire, 2006, Acrylic on paper, 50 sheets, 5 feet x 13.25 feet, Installation view in Works on Paper, Gallery Sonja Roesch, Houston, 2006 (#79)

Matthew Deleget, End of Empire, 2006, Acrylic on paper, 50 sheets, 5 feet x 13.25 feet (#79)