Event review: In Chobeka exhibition, artist confronts social chaos
Matthew Choberka's exhibit "I Know Some Nice People" is currently on display at The Argo House until April 30.
Matthew Choberka's exhibit "I Know Some Nice People" is currently on display at The Argo House until April 30.
Matthew Choberka's exhibit "I Know Some Nice People" is currently on display at The Argo House until April 30.
This February, Carper Contemporary presented its first pop-up exhibition of the year at The Argo House with “I Know Some Nice People,” featuring the work of Ogden-based artist Matthew Choberka. The public can still view the exhibit until it closes on April 30.
Choberka, painter and art professor at Weber State University, in “I Know Some Nice People” released a body of work that continues his exploration of figurative elements amidst his typical turbulent abstraction. New paintings, as well as works on paper, are showcased in the downstairs lobby and upstairs common areas of The Argo House.
“To live in these times is in a lot of ways scary, and in all of my recent works I’m working to acknowledge that, and to overcome it,” stated Choberka in his artist statement.
According to Carper Contemporary: “Choberka’s work is a personal navigation of the contemporary world, from his everyday experiences to the distressing state of society. As is typical with abstraction, underlying narratives are not always discernible to the viewer yet strongly resonate as a familiar felt experience. The emergence of the figure in Choberka’s latest work, however, introduces a new interplay between forms that speaks more directly to the artist’s perceptions and ultimately, our own internalized emotions.”
“In a way, it says a lot more about how I see the world and how I feel about it,” Choberka said of his pull toward figurative-based compositions. “It’s time to be frank in this way.”
Carper Contemporary continues: “The unrest that has rippled throughout the globe this past year reverberates through Choberka’s canvases, taking shape as androgynous forms in exploding color. The work is an artistic exposure of our most vulnerable emotions — anxiety, hope, fear, obsession — and the complexities therein, embodying our shared human experience and what it truly means to ‘live in these times.'”
“When I suggested giving this show the title, ‘I Know Some Nice People,’ I thought it pretty clever; a way to point toward the way these pictures embody a grotesquery that I perceive just about everywhere in our contemporary lives … in our politics, in our culture,” Choberka stated. “But that’s not really it. At least as important, and very likely much more so, is a reckoning going on with aspects of myself. My imagination, my knowledge, such as they are, all I have to guide me in painting.”
But until his work is “mirrored back” to him in the responses of friends and colleagues, Choberka says he can’t fully “see” what it is he is really painting.
Since the time of the exhibit opening, the answer to why he named it “I Know Some Nice People” has become more complicated as his own understanding of the new worlds has grown.
“I first thought of it almost ironically, referring to many of the strange, monster-like presences that emerge in the paintings, which for me come as a response to what I see as damaging forces at work in our society,” Choberka said. “But as my own understanding of these new works has grown, I’ve also seen that there is a very positive, or at least, more complex understanding of these ‘characters.’ They can at times reflect more on personal relationships and reflect experiences that are more complicated and mysterious. And of course, the title also refers to how important peers, friends, and mentors are to our development as artists.”
Almost every piece in the show was started and finished during the pandemic. “I’ve been exploring this weird figuration for a few years now, but this show really focuses on that approach, which I think was in many ways magnified or heightened by the experience of the past year,” he said.
The level of interest and thoughtful viewing of the works in “I Know Some Nice People” has been surprising to Choberka. “These images can take some getting used to, and are motivated by some fairly intense ideas and feelings,” he said. “It’s certainly my hope that people spend some time with the paintings, and that longer looking unlocks some other levels on which to experience them.”
Kelly Carper of Carper Contemporary organized the show at the Argo House and, together with Choberka, is planning an informal artist’s talk/walk-through reception for the evening of April 23.
“It would be great to see people there and answer questions,” Choberka said.