WILLIAM MATHESON // The Glow

On view May 25–June 30, 2024
Opening reception Saturday, June 1 (1–3pm)

This spring, Nationale is pleased to welcome back Portland-based painter William Matheson for his sixth solo exhibition with the gallery. The unifying theme of this work is one of duality, rooted in an intimate physical and metaphysical understanding of “the glow.” As such, the exhibition's title, The Glow began as a careful consideration of what it looks like to parent a child in conjunction with wildfires, climate change, and widespread ecological devastation. Lived experiences in Oregon intensely informed the roots of these dichotomous studies that serve as connection points towards a greater, collective reckoning with the lingering remnants of both manifest and elusive experiences.

The paintings that encompass this show mark a return to textural jute as the lively surface material for Matheson’s work. The fibrous threads that peak through each underpainting contribute to an intentional clouding of perspective. In the mini series Haze, the bracing luminescence of the sun irradiated by wildfire smoke in late summer can be seen in varying shades of smoky pinks, yellows, and grays. Trees and landscapes are obscured by Matheson’s brush as they would be by flames or fumes yet retain their shapes in a self-referential quality. The sun stands as a sharp focal point in each work, orbs of light glowing away from its form in precarious rings. In turn, works such as Children’s Table 1 and 2 offer contrasting glimpses into the delicate balance of life with a young child, a certain brilliance of watching them as they grow. A stark white background is a blank slate for the shadows of the toys and trinkets that encompass daily routines in these pieces. As such, they delicately mark time by way of meaningful events, much like unexpected natural disasters might cement time in their own respect.

Additional works present immaterial sensations as tangible suggestions—the warmth of golden sun caressing skin in Late Afternoon or the pinprick of the eyes from staring at a bright screen in Night Computer. Many of the paintings exist as pairs, doubling one another, the notion of “doppelganger” manifesting in painted, ghostly apparitions and in the trace impressions left in their wake. Accompanying the main exhibition are a series of studies created on canvas pad with acrylic paint on display in the Project Room. This collection further explores the iconography referenced in The Glow while becoming defined by the limitations of palette and materials. As a result, these blue vignettes appear as pared down silhouettes of figures and objects that reinforce and contrast the paintings in the front gallery. Shadows and specters hint at the presence of something larger—sometimes hopeful, sometimes sinister. Capturing both ends of this precarious spectrum, Matheson paints with deep beauty the minutiae of a world warping at an eerily accelerated rate.

William Matheson lives and works in Portland, OR. His work has been shown at galleries in New York, Washington DC, South Korea, Japan, Taipei, the Czech Republic and Mongolia and has been featured in publications such as Artmaze, Aesthetica, and Variable West. Matheson is the recipient of artist grants from The Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation in Montreal, Canada, the Regional Arts and Culture Council in Portland, OR, and The Puffin Foundation in New Jersey. He has been an artist-in-residence at the Örö Residency Programme in Finland, Mass MoCA in North Adams, MA, the Vermont Studio Center, and Taipei Artist Village in Taiwan. Matheson received his MFA from Virginia Commonwealth University in Richmond, VA, in 2016 and his BFA from Pacific Northwest College of Art in 2013. He is represented by Nationale.

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