Matthew Lusk

Encyclopedia of Light

(Today in Two Parts)                      

14 September (extended by appointment to 25 January, 2025)

Elijah Wheat Showroom is elevated to house an exhibition of new work by  Matthew Lusk. Entitled Encyclopedia of Light (Today in Two Parts), this immersive installation will take over our entire riverfront space at 195 Front Street in Newburgh, NY. 

The main floor of the gallery will be occupied by eight pieces from Encyclopedia of Light, a body of work begun in 2016. Evoking the vernacular of hardware store lighting displays, each of these pieces consist of a four-foot-square panel hanging from the ceiling with an array of lamps and electric fixtures shining downward from their miniature floating ceiling. The visual language that correlates to a ‘Showroom’ brings the bounty of illuminated lights viewers see dangling, a contradiction to order as we travel through Lusk’s inventive chaos. Above this plane, dozens of sculptural works (spanning from the last decade to the present) are arranged. Ready-made assemblages don discrete objects and share this stage aloft with scarecrow-like figures, which imply stand-ins for the artist himself. As if a 3-Dimensional Nude Descending a Staircase is looming above, they peer over a participant's illuminated progress through an ersatz warehouse survey. 

“The Arts” section in the New York Times is often bloated to expand its boundaries, a notice is put below the title reading Today in Two Parts. Likewise, this project spills out into another room and onto the floor. Where everything before was above, so now all is below. Between two freestanding zig-zag displays are nestled several works on the ground and exhaustively leaning against walls. A funeral effect is maintained by two expansive tombstone-like brown glass panes standing together as Large Glass. Images in 22k pale American Shade gold leaf shine upon them: a weeping willow and a cartoon desert island. The two-part tragicomedy culminates with a scattered piece that anchors this space. Twin piles of brick salvaged from the banks of the Hudson, green with algae, sparkle with bits of pure color. Dozens of water-worn and tide-beaten fragments have been glazed brightly. These shining parts put the tingle into a memory that comprises the heart of so-called Phantom Limbs. 

Presented alongside of the other, the works that comprise these Two Parts bring together darkness and light, the past and the present, into an illuminated whole. There is a deliberate act of de-emphasizing the uniformity of elements, far from any nod to a Kunsthalle well-known across the Hudson River. It’s a play on gallery commerciality, a snub to ‘retinal art’ and gives all that which appeals to the mind, as opposed to just the eye. This Encyclopedia of Light encourages you to turn its many pages, and rewards you for your careful attention.

The exhibition will commence during Newburgh Open Studios Noon-6PM 28 & 29 September, with an opening reception celebrating the artist the following weekend, 4PM-8PM, Saturday, 5 October, 2024. 

A special events will occur: Halloween, 31 October, an. ’Artist Talk’ 23 November and spirited Lunar New Year celebration & closing on 25 January, 2025. We invite you to join us for any or all of these.  

Matthew Lusk’s large-scale sculptures and installation works, often composed of reclaimed and salvaged items, question the promise of the American Dream with a combination of dark humor and bright despair. He has had solo exhibitions with Triple Candie, Zieher-Smith, Picture Farm, and Black Ball Projects, and has increasingly been executing projects in the public sphere, most notably as part of the Terrain Biennial. He is also the director of the newly revived Goudy Wildlife Club of Newburgh.

This is the artist’s first solo exhibition with Elijah Wheat. Matthew lives and works in Newburgh, NY. 

Elijah Wheat Showroom (est. 2015) is a New York-based artist-run gallery and nomadic curatorial experience founded by Carolina Wheat & Liz Nielsen. Currently positioned in Newburgh, NY on the Hudson River, in two buildings comprising 5000 sq/ft of an historic factory. The gallery is named after their late son, Elijah, whose creative insight, righteous vision, perceptive being and stylistic voice for trendsetting embody the spirit that the Showroom honors. Elijah Wheat  artists are socially conscientious, politically engaged and reflective of a creative community striving to cultivate meaningful  interactions and instigate conversations about craft &  concepts of aesthetics. We promote the diversity of artists' voices with contemplative messages through a determination to make visual culture part of our everyday life. All while advocating for visual art’s accessibility to varied audiences.