statement

Fragments of Fort Howard: Sabbatical project by Matt Klos

It was like finding the ruins to an ancient city in the jungle, he said. You wouldn’t believe that in 50 years a place could go back to nature like that. Baltimore County Executive Frederick L Dewberry, early in 1972

On an unseasonably warm Saturday morning in late winter 2011 I packed a large panel and my paints into my truck and drove 3.7 miles to Fort Howard. I had stumbled upon this 47 acre parcel of federal property situated at the end of the Sparrows Point peninsula, near Baltimore, during the occasional drive or jog along a surprisingly rural stretch of road. Since the road that leads from my home to Fort Howard leads in the opposite direction of work, errands, friends, and family it was never on my way but remained on my mind. The majesty and decay of these places left an indelible impression on my mind.

In summer 2013 I embarked on my sabbatical project at Fort Howard by preparing dozens of 2’ and 4’ square painting surfaces. My full time pursuit during the summer and fall of that year was focused on the completion of a series of paintings documenting the structures situated on the Fort Howard grounds. Fort Howard, although largely unoccupied still maintains an outpatient clinic which is open on weekdays and is watched round the clock by security officers to prevent trespassing and vandalism.
Leading up to this project I saw two deeply moving exhibitions which helped shape some of my goals. Richard Diebenkorn: The Ocean Park Series retrospective at the Corcoran Gallery and De Kooning: A Retrospective at MoMA.  Both exhibitions confronted the viewer with an impressive sense of scale and various series of works that seemed to be directed by rigid self-imposed rules or restraints. Additionally both artists kept themselves from buttoning up or editing expressive aberrations that fell across the surface of paintings. It seems that these aberrations serve to balance the more ordered and deliberate marks on the paintings surfaces netting a gestalt effect that is both emotional and cerebral. With these ideas in the back of my mind I left my usual interior motif in the search of something new.

bio

born: 1979, Rochester, NY

education

University of Maryland, MFA, 2004
Columbus College of Art & Design, BFA, 2001

selected awards/honors

Individual Artist Award, Maryland State Arts Council 2012 & 2008
Winner of the Prince Street Gallery 40th Anniversary Guest Solo Show Competition, 2010
Winner of the Bethesda Painting Awards, 2007
The Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation Grant 2001

selected publications

BmoreArt Blog: Painting as Paradox: In the Studio with Matt Klos, March 12, 2014, Cara Ober
Painting Perceptions Blog: Matt Klos, October 26, 2011, Larry Groff
The Baltimore Examiner: Capture Everyday Miracles 2008
The Boston Globe: Prized Possessions 2006

selected solo or two-person exhibits

Academy Center of the Arts, "Interiors," Lynchburg, VA 2016
Manifest Gallery, A Dozen Years of Interiors, Cincinnati, OH 2014
Cade Center of Fine Arts, Anne Arundel CC, Fragments of Fort Howard, Arnold, MD 2014
Prince Street Gallery, Keeping Things Chelsea, NY 2010

selected group shows

Bowery Gallery, "Beyond the Window," Zeuxis, New York, NY 2015
Koplin Del Rio, "LA/Seattle: I-5 Connects II," Culver City, CA 2014
Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts Gallery, ìObservation and Invention: The Space of Desire,î Philadelphia, PA 2014
Prographica, ìThe Still Life Show, Seattle, WA