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 animal head, self-portrait, and skull illustrations suggest the complicated existence of what lies behind an architectural mask. Delving into notions of family and loss, these life-sized ‘portraits’ of masks convey multiple levels of human emotion. These drawings are rendered to evoke a sense of comfort and domesticity through the use of fabric as covering, usually using southwestern style pattern work to resemble my childhood home, 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 piece to convey vulnerability in the place I find most safe.
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.
For more information about the artist, please visit his website.