Local artist surrounds viewers with media at Matchbox Gallery

By Esther Kim     9/30/15 5:34am

Matchbox Gallery’s latest exhibition, “Surrounded by Searching,” covers the interior of the small gallery, overwhelming the viewer from all sides. The piece’s creator, Chris Henry, is an emerging Houstonian artist with connections to the San Francisco and New York art world. According to Claire O’Malley, a Baker College senior and co-director of Matchbox,“Surrounded by Searching” is meant to represent the way media envelopes and forces itself upon the user.

O’Malley said that Henry, who himself maintains an active Internet presence through Tumblr and other social media websites, uses the interaction between the user and the web as his primary inspiration.

“Henry takes image searches from things that are Rice-related, and then abstracts them in the same way that a computer glitches,” O’Malley said. The intended effect is to convey the experience of slow and searching connections, regressing to the point in which all that remains are solid plates of color.

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As the title suggests, Henry’s work also explores the experience of being “surrounded by searching.”

“[Henry expresses] the imagery and the bombardment that we deal with everyday,” O’Malley said. “He creates paintings in a huge scale so that when you walk into the gallery, you are sort of engulfed by the digital imagery that is abstracted.”

Artists who wish to have their art displayed at Matchbox must apply to O’Malley and Co- Director George Hewitt. According to O’Malley, their decision to accept Henry’s application was influenced by the fact that he was willing to engage with the space and a context that fit into Rice: His work was “site-specific,” and he is a contemporary emerging artist.

Once Henry was selected, O’Malley and Hewitt had to start the task of putting the show together, which O’Malley referred to as a “whirlwind.” She said there was even some slight controversy. Though she said viewers most likely would not have noticed, she felt that some of the artists ideas presented in the work were intentionally critical of Rice.

“[They critiqued] college culture, [addressing] the idea that the privilege and power and responsibility that students possess here come from being an elite, educated person from an elite university,” O’Malley said.

O’Malley said these themes put her and Hewitt in a difficult position: As representatives of the visual and dramatic arts department at Rice, they have a responsibility to present work that facilitates interesting discussions, but also which is not political to the point of being counter to campus values and culture. O’Malley noted that fortunately, Henry was very responsive to feedback, and that the issues were able to be resolved.

“Surrounded by Searching” is currently on display at the Matchbox Gallery in Sewall Courtyard.

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