Carl Solway Gallery presents a selection of recent paintings by Matthew Kolodziej.  At first glance, his paintings appear to be dazzling, complex abstractions.  Upon more careful observation, multi-layered fragments of architectural details emerge creating a sense of places in a state of change.   The locations seem to be simultaneously under construction and demolition. 

To quote Kolodziej, “ A patchwork is something made up of an incongruous variety of pieces.  Patching connotes use, repair and replacement. … Architectural sites in flux provide the foundations for these paintings.” 

Kolodziej photographs industrial sites, and through a sophisticated process of computer manipulation, projection, tracing and paint application creates commanding images and surfaces that demand to be seen firsthand.  To quote an essay by the painter and writer Joe Fyfe, “ Kolodziej’s paint handling seems to both counterpoint and magnify aspects of the fragmented imagery.  His subtly playful color, mixed with gel – laid down in delicate, squiggly, linear re-tracings and pours -- at once builds and dissolves the pictorial structure.”  His slightly dimensional surfaces catch light and glisten.

Matthew Kolodziej lives and works in Akron, Ohio where he is Professor of Art at the University of Akron. He earned a B.A. in economics from the University of Chicago in 1988 and an M.F.A. in painting from the Rhode Island School of Design in 1993.  He has been exhibiting his paintings since the mid 1980s.  Kolodziej is a recipient of the Pollock-Krasner Foundation Award and a Fulbright Scholar.  His work has been featured in over 70 exhibitions including The Cleveland Museum of Art, Akron Art Museum, Rose Art Museum, RISD Museum, Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland and Painting Center, New York.  Permanent collections include the Akron Art Museum. David Owsley Museum of Art at Ball State University and the Swope Art Museum