Matt Blackwell beaters, boats, and sleds 16 june - 17 july 2000       Caddy for Cormac oil on canvas, 2000 93" x 76"       Gonna leave the pain behind Gonna leave the fools in line Gonna take the magic potion Getting in a black car Gonna take a ride so far To the land of sun tan lotion Gonna take it state by state Til I hit the golden gate Get my feet wet in the ocean    – Neil Young, Big Time   These large paintings of big iron cars of the late 60s and early 70s are somewhat nostalgic. They reflect ideals of masculinity of that generation – shows of size, power, apeed. But time and gravity catches up with the sheer bulk of these machines. Ball joints sag, internal organs clog up with grease, and surfaces begin to rust and pock. However, the beauty of these machines is that all parts can be replaced and resurfaced. Anyone with the will and tools can keep these cars running. Repair is a way of life, but in today's disposable world, it is sadly fading. Made over a period of seven to ten years, these car paintings reflect the fits, jump starts, and extended stalls of their eveolution. Worked and re-worked, hauled in and out of the hallway, returned to again and again, they visualize flashes of the "true believer" when nothing else is working. Painting, in these works, is about repair: What is wrong with the image, How can it get running again? Can another piece of experience be bolted on to make it run? The past is like a vast junk yard, a scrap-heap rich with the memories of people, places, events to be rediscoverd and refitted, modified or customized and made new again. In Matt's words: A large part of the American psyche is escape from one's private dustbowl. Today's ubiquitous TV commercials project slickly marketed fantasies, odysseys promising adventure, survival, protection, and hot sex. Yet while many of the cars in these paintings are poised for escape, ready totake their drivers to glory or simply some place where trouble doesn't go, other sit abandoned. One wonders how they got there and what was their story. Some of the landscapes they end up in conjur the settings of Russell Banks or a Cormac McCarthy novel. These cars, those of desperate or poor people, are probably finished, out of gas and out of hope. Yet, as paintings, they continue to tell their stories. They stand ready to take the viewer on journeys where long may you run.
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	P   I   E   R   O   G   I     2   0   0   0 177 north 9th street brooklyn, ny 11211 718.599.2144 noon to 6p friday through monday and by appointment pierogi 2000 is an innovative art gallery in williamsburg, brooklyn, new york