Vanitas Paintings
(2012 - present)
In 2012, I started an ongoing suite of monochrome paintings made of enamel spray paint on canvas and highly decorative frames. The works fuse painting and its formal presentation into a single visual experience and examine perceived issues of taste and authority within the theater of an exhibition space. These first works in this series produced between 2012-2014 were specifically informed by Dutch vanitas / still life painting of the 16th-17th centuries, Piet Mondrian’s Neo-Plastic paintings from the 1920s-1940s, and the Radical Painting Group active in NYC during the 1970s-1980s, plus my work running MINUS SPACE for more than 20 years.
The newer works in this series, which were conceived over the past five years after moving from Brooklyn to South Orange, New Jersey, and completed during the summer 2024, are all made with vintage frames (some damaged) that I scrounged up in thrift, second-hand, garage / yard / estate sales, and antique stores here in NJ. The paintings are primarily horizontal / landscape format and the colors reference those found in the works of various Hudson River School painters, such as Asher B. Durand, George Inness, Thomas Worthington Whittredge, and others, who were active around these parts more than a century ago.
Exhibition Views
Exhibition view in Make It or Break It, curated by David C. Terry, C24 Gallery, New York, NY, 2024
Exhibition view in Make It or Break It, curated by David C. Terry, C24 Gallery, New York, NY, 2024
Exhibition view in Make It or Break It, curated by David C. Terry, C24 Gallery, New York, NY, 2024
Exhibition view in Make It or Break It, curated by David C. Terry, C24 Gallery, New York, NY, 2024
Exhibition view in Make It or Break It, curated by David C. Terry, C24 Gallery, New York, NY, 2024
Exhibition view in Make It or Break It, curated by David C. Terry, C24 Gallery, New York, NY, 2024
Exhibition view in Make It or Break It, curated by David C. Terry, C24 Gallery, New York, NY, 2024
Exhibition view in Make It or Break It, curated by David C. Terry, C24 Gallery, New York, NY, 2024
Exhibition view of Matthew Deleget: Vanitas, Philip Slein Gallery, St. Louis, MO, 2016
Exhibition view of Matthew Deleget: Vanitas, Philip Slein Gallery, St. Louis, MO, 2016
Exhibition view of Matthew Deleget: Vanitas, Philip Slein Gallery, St. Louis, MO, 2016
Exhibition view of Matthew Deleget: Vanitas, Philip Slein Gallery, St. Louis, MO, 2016
Exhibition view of Matthew Deleget: Vanitas, Peter Blake Gallery, Laguna Beach, CA, 2014
Exhibition view of Matthew Deleget: Vanitas, Peter Blake Gallery, Laguna Beach, CA, 2014
Exhibition view of Matthew Deleget: Vanitas, Peter Blake Gallery, Laguna Beach, CA, 2014
Exhibition view of Matthew Deleget: Vanitas, Peter Blake Gallery, Laguna Beach, CA, 2014
Exhibition view of Matthew Deleget: Vanitas, Peter Blake Gallery, Laguna Beach, CA, 2014
Exhibition view of Matthew Deleget: Vanitas, Peter Blake Gallery, Laguna Beach, CA, 2014
Paintings
Matthew Deleget, Vanitas (Summersquash), 2024, Enamel spray paint on canvas and vintage decorative frame, 27 x 23 x 1.75 inches (#570)
Matthew Deleget, Vanitas (Cinnamon), 2024, Enamel spray paint on canvas and vintage decorative frame, 22.75 x 26.5 x 2 inches (#569)
Matthew Deleget, Vanitas (Wildflower Blue), 2024, Enamel spray paint on canvas board and vintage decorative frame, 22 x 26 x 2 inches (#574)
Matthew Deleget, Vanitas (Real Orange), 2024, Enamel spray paint on canvas board and vintage decorative frame, 16 x 23 x 2.5 inches (#578)
Matthew Deleget, Vanitas (Eden), 2024, Enamel spray paint on canvas board and vintage decorative frame, 17 x 21 x 1 inches (#589)
Matthew Deleget, Vanitas (Kona Brown), 2024, Enamel spray paint on canvas board and vintage decorative frame, 15 x 18 x 1.25 inches (#576)
Matthew Deleget, Vanitas (Orion Gray), 2024, Enamel spray paint on canvas board and vintage decorative frame, 14.25 x 17.25 x 1.5 inches (#580)
Matthew Deleget, Vanitas (Sage Green), 2024, Enamel spray paint on canvas board and vintage decorative frame, 13.5 x 16.5 x 2 inches (#577)
Matthew Deleget, Vanitas (Almond), 2024, Enamel spray paint on canvas board and vintage decorative frame, 11 x 15 x 2 inches (#573)
Matthew Deleget, Vanitas (Cranberry), 2024, Enamel spray paint on canvas and vintage decorative frame, 14 x 16 x 1.75 inches (#571)
Matthew Deleget, Vanitas (London Gray), 2024, Enamel spray paint on canvas board and vintage decorative frame, 15 x 15 x 1.5 inches (#588)
Matthew Deleget, Vanitas (Moss Green), 2024, Enamel spray paint on canvas board and vintage decorative frame, 13.5 x 14.75 x 1 inches (#583)
Matthew Deleget, Vanitas (French Blue), 2024, Enamel spray paint on canvas board and vintage decorative frame, 12.5 x 14.5 x 1.25 inches, Private collection, New York, NY (#587)
Matthew Deleget, Vanitas (Fossil), 2024, Enamel spray paint on canvas board and vintage decorative frame, 13 x 13 x 1 inches (#584)
Matthew Deleget, Vanitas (Oregano), 2024, Enamel spray paint on canvas board and vintage decorative frame, 12 x 12 x 1.5 inches (#585)
Matthew Deleget, Vanitas (Hunt Club Green), 2024, Enamel spray paint on canvas board and vintage decorative frame, 11.5 x 13.5 x 1.25 inches (#572)
Matthew Deleget, Vanitas (Smokey Beige), 2024, Enamel spray paint on canvas board and vintage decorative frame, 9.75 x 11.75 x .75 inches (#581)
Matthew Deleget, Vanitas (Khaki), 2024, Enamel spray paint on canvas board and vintage decorative frame, 9.75 x 11.75 x .75 inches (#582)
Matthew Deleget, Vanitas (Midnight Blue), 2024, Enamel spray paint on canvas board and vintage decorative frame, 7.75 x 9.75 x 1.5 inches (#575)
Matthew Deleget, Vanitas (Ivory), 2024, Enamel spray paint on canvas board and vintage decorative frame, 9 x 9.5 x 1.5 inches (#579)
Matthew Deleget, Vanitas (Navy Blue), 2024, Enamel spray paint on canvas board and vintage decorative frame, 8.5 x 10 x 1.25 inches (#586)
Matthew Deleget, Vanitas (True Blue), 2014, Enamel spray paint on canvas and decorative frame, 23 x 27 x 3 inches (#55)
Matthew Deleget, Vanitas (Sun Yellow), 2014, Enamel spray paint on canvas and decorative frame, 21 x 25 x 3.5 inches (#51)
Matthew Deleget, Vanitas (Dover White), 2014, Enamel spray paint on canvas and decorative frame, 19.75 x 23.75 x 2.5 inches, Private collection, Connecticut (#59)
Matthew Deleget, Vanitas (Pewter Gray), 2014, Enamel spray paint on canvas and decorative frame, 21.5 x 25.5 x 3 inches (#52)
Matthew Deleget, Vanitas (Tomato), 2014, Enamel spray paint on canvas and decorative frame, 22.5 x 26.5 x 3.5 inches, Private collection, Los Angeles, CA (#53)
Matthew Deleget, Vanitas (Ford Blue), 2014, Enamel spray paint on canvas and decorative frame, 16.25 x 19.25 x 1.5 inches, Private collection, New York, NY (#58)
Matthew Deleget, Vanitas (Dover White), 2014, Enamel spray paint on canvas and decorative frame, 15 x 18 x 2 inches (#59)
Matthew Deleget, Vanitas (Bright Yellow), 2014, Enamel spray paint on canvas and decorative frame, 19.5 x 23.25 x 3 inches (destroyed)
Matthew Deleget, Vanitas (Black Over Bright Yellow), 2014, Enamel spray paint on canvas and decorative frame, 19.5 x 23.5 x 2.5 inches (#57)
Matthew Deleget, Vanitas (Bright Gold), 2014, Enamel spray paint on canvas and decorative frame, 26.25 x 22.25 x 3.5 inches (#54)
Matthew Deleget, Vanitas (Black), 2014, Enamel spray paint on canvas and decorative frame, diptych, 19.25 x 15.25 x 1.5 inches each, 19.25 x 32.5 x 1.5 inches overall (#50)
Matthew Deleget, Dead Before Death, 2012, Gold enamel spray paint over canvas and decorative wooden frame, triptych, 26 x 56 inches overall, 1 panel 26 x 22 inches, 2 panels 16 x 14 inches; Installation view in Matthew Deleget: Ceremony, Alejandra von Hartz Gallery, Miami, FL, 2012 (#1)