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Matthew Brannon at John Connelly presents

Art in America, Dec, 2004 by Sarah Valdez

To "investigate alcohol's belligerent euphoria" figured among Matthew Brannon's stated ambitions for his first New York solo exhibition, "Exhausted Blood and Imitation Salt." He also reported that he intended to explore what he regards as the "unresolvable tension between decoration and discourse ... in painting." Brannon, a recent Columbia M.F.A. with a penchant for graphic design, may use paint, but one easily gets the sense that he is ill-disposed to brushwork. He is also fond of the idea of fin de siecle French decadence (especially as it relates to goth culture, and to J.K. Huysmans's assertion that the end of every century is the same). As if devising an ad campaign or the decor for a social gathering, Brannon began planning for this show by limiting his color palette to hot pink, gold, white and black. He then made works in a variety of mediums, keeping one foot in design and the other in popular culture.

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Brannon avoids not only painting, but coherence, citing Surrealist poetry as inspiration for his series of four spare, graceful letterpress prints, each 18 by 20 inches, recalling wine labels. In them, tiny pink dots imply bubbles, and champagne flutes and wispy feathers are depicted in fine, delicate lines. The prints bring to mind commercial culture's ability to efficiently conjure up much that is desirable with laconic signifiers. Rather than appellation and cru, here we have texts revealing the psychological underbelly of the "good life": "Unable to Feel or Care or Make Decisions," "Everything I Want, You Have" and "Everything You Say Will Come Back to Haunt You."

Language also figures prominently in Brannon's movie-poster silkscreens. Superimposed over the likenesses of black-and-gray mansions are stylized blob shapes with a pattern reminiscent of the kind of ornate fences meant to keep the wealthy apart from everyone else. At the bottom of the prints, black humor animates such mock credits as "STARRING| Unchecked Confidence| assplay| 7 years in one night| Parlor of Regret| ... MUSIC BY| Carpeted Quote with Perverse Ambition| SCREENPLAY BY| Diet Coke and Vodka...."

Two "tapestries," embroidery-stitched and paint-stenciled canvases, mirror each other's depiction of bamboo, birds and leaves in a fashionable Asian manner. One is white on black, the other black on white; both employ sparse but well-placed accents of gold and pink. These pieces are good-looking, but without the suggestive texts of Brannon's other works, they seem kind of soulless, merely decorative. Brannon's esthetic gift is indisputable. But as he demonstrates here, prettiness holds more interest when its potential for the insidious remains part of the picture.

Matthew Brannon at John Connelly presents

Art in America, Dec, 2004 by Sarah Valdez

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