Matt Kinney - 2021

Matt Kinney was born in Georgetown, Massachusetts. He attended Pratt Institute and The School of the Museum of Fine Arts, graduating in 1998. After graduation, Kinney began ink painting in New York City, plein air, and in the studio with nude models. In early 2000’s, Scottish artist and mentor John Brazenall taught Kinney the fundamentals of Resin Sand Casting Bronze and Aluminum sculpture at New Foundry in Brooklyn, NY. In 2003 he relocated to Beacon, NY where his work continued at the Polich Art Foundry. His practice includes ink painting, sculpture, and photography.

Painted with Japanese Sumi ink on thick, handmade watercolor paper, Kinney’s Figure Series illustrates the inextricable interplay of light and dark captured in ever-shifting subjectivity shaped by shadow. His work largely deals with ideas of waking trance, dream state, and ancient animistic views of the world.

Although he typically paints with brushes and watercolor, Tasmania, Spiral, 2009 in the current exhibition at the Robin Rice Gallery is an exception; Kinney finger-painted this artwork with clay while traveling in the interior wilderness of Tasmania.