MATTHEW FLORIANI | OAKLAND, CALIFORNIA

SOLO EXHIBITIONS

2019
StArtUp Las Angeles, The Kinney Hotel, Venice, CA

2018
The Hero Within Me, Root Division/ Frank-Ratchye Studio Artist Project Space, San Francisco, CA
Perfect Imperfections, Burnt Oak Gallery, Oakland, CA
StArtup Art Fair, Venice Beach, CA

2017
Imperfections, The Cutting Edge Alternative art space, Sebastopol, CA
Shelter, Patricia Sweetow Gallery, Oakland, CA

2014
Mixed Media, Shade and Wire Gallery, San Francisco, CA

GROUP EXHIBITIONS

2019  
5550 Show, de Plume Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Excelsior!, Dab Art Co. at H Gallery, Ventura, CA
Peace on Earth, Museum of Art and History, Lancaster, CA
Portrait Gallery, 5550 Apartments, Los Angeles, CA
Taste, Root Division, San Francisco, CA

2018
17th Annual Art Acution, Root Division, San Francisco 
Very Very Rare Affordable Art Fair, JCO’s Art Haus, Los Gatos, CA
Skin and Bone, de Plume Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
5550 Show, de Plume Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
Taste, Root Division, San Francisco, CA
Roses in Concrete, Google Head-quarters, San Francisco, CA 

2017
BIOTIC, Dab Art Co. at H Gallery, Ventura, CA
Twelve Degrees, Mills College, Oakland, CA
The Spread, Embark Gallery, Fort Mason, CA
Open Studios, Mills College, Oakland, CA

2016
Alumni Exhibition, Balfour/Brutzman Gallery, CSUMB, Seaside, CA.
Open Studios, Mills College, Oakland, CA.
Cal Expo, Sacramento, CA.
Open Studios, Mills College, Oakland, CA.

2015
Open Studios, Mills College, Oakland, CA

2013
Identity, Balfour/Brutzman Gallery, CSUMB, Seaside, CA.

COLLABORATIVE PROJECTS

2019
Community Engaged Mural, 16th and Poplar Street, Oakland, CA

2017
Mural Project, 3rd and Washington, Oakland, CA

2016
Me You and This Other Thing, Southern Exposure, San Francisco, CA 

2015
Art Night San Francisco, SERPS, San Francisco, CA 

2013
Public Art commission, Evolution to sk8ing, Marina, CA
Restoration of Statue of Liberty mural, SOMA, San Francisco, CA
Community based mural in a new public park, Pajaro Valley, CA

ARTIST TALKS/ PANELS

2018
Root Division in Conversations, The Hero With In Me, San Francisco, CA
StArtup Art Fair interviews, StArtup Art Fair, Venice, CA

2017
BIOTIC Panel Discussion, Dab Art Co. at H Gallery + Studios Ventura, CA
Kim Anno, In Conversations with Matthew Floriani, Patricia Sweetow Gallery, Oakland, CA
One Point, Two Point, Three Point Perspective lecture, Mills College, Oakland, CA
Value lecture, Mills College, Oakland, CA

2016
Professional Practices for Artist Series, CSUMB, Monterey, CA.

MATTHEW FLORIANI

A house is never as secure as it might appear. I have always felt an immediate connection to home, a place not only of comfort, but a place of order. But a closer look inside the cracks and windows might just reflect the erratic and volatile chaos of the outside world. The sense of order and control, in whatever form it takes, acts as a mask, a shelter, a protective façade, for those who live inside.

My recent house sculptures and ‘empty’ deer head illustrations suggest the complicated existence of what lies behind an architectural mask. Delving into notions of family and loss, these life-sized ‘portraits’ of houses and masks convey multiple levels of human emotion. Constructed out of wood, patterned fabric, nails, screws, metal, and thread, these structures are rendered to evoke a sense of comfort and domesticity through the use of fabric as covering, while others are presented in various states of disarray with architectural features broken down and de-constructed. These states of order and chaos are simultaneously present in each house to convey vulnerability in the place I find most safe.  

On the other hand, my illustrations of ‘empty’ deer heads symbolize three brothers, the inhabitants of the home. I employ a drawn form of collage to resemble domestic textiles, bed sheets, and tablecloths as a soft shield that protects in some ways and not in others, provoking a sense of vulnerability in the most regulated of spaces. The tension created through the juxtaposition of a lifeless mask, the bleakness of a hollow home, and the comforting fabric patterns leads to a questioning of what exactly is being protected.

A house is never as secure as it might appear. Behind closed doors lies something deeper and more complicated. Order and control seep into the cracks and hide side-by-side beneath the floorboards and barricades of the home. 

EDUCATION

2017 Mills College, Masters of Fine art in studio art, Oakland, CA

2014 Santa Rosa Junior College, Santa Rosa, CA

2013 California State University Monterey Bay, BA in Visual and Public Art, Monterey, CA

2011 Richmond University, Florence, Italy

2008 California State University Monterey Bay, Monterey, CA

REPRESENTATION

2017 - Present, Dab Art Co., Los Angeles, CA

GRANTS/ AWARDS/ PUBLICATIONS

2019
Public Mural, 18th and Poplar Street, Oakland, CA
Public Mural, Kirkham and 18th Street, Oakland, CA
Public Mural, Poplar and Kirkham Street, Oakland, CA
Public Mural, 16th and Poplar Street, Oakland, CA

2018  
The Hero Within Me online publication, Root Division, San Francisco, CA
Public Mural, The Star Bar, Sebastopol, CA
Studio Resident, Root Division, San Francisco, CA

2017
Public Mural, 3rd and Washington, Oakland, CA
MFA Now 2017 Archive, Root Division, San Francisco, CA

2016
Stipend for vinyl installation in Peace Town, Sebastopol, CA

2014
Pajaro Park Mural, Pajaro Park, Pajaro, CA

2013
Marina Youth Arts mural Funding (Title: Evolution to Sk8ing)
Commemoration of Evolution to Sk8ing, Marina skatepark and youth center, Marina, CA