Matthew Kluber

Matthew Kluber’s work brings together the traditions of drawing and painting with the forward thinking world of digital technology. His creations are beautiful, relying upon extensive manipulation and computer programming to form their rhythmic patterning of color and motion. His paintings reference the screen of a computer when explosive color and line patterns appear to exclaim a crash is coming. The paintings, made on aluminum panels, use luminous color to form linear patterns. Then with customized programming software he creates motion graphics that are projected onto the surface of the paintings. The projections exhibit distinctly different patterns and interact with the paint to make new colorations, making the work of art significantly different than it looks in its static state. His drawings, made with gouache on watercolor paper, play with the intersection of line and color. The displacing of lines within a plane gives a three dimensionality to the drawing, which is simply just a visual effect, there is no actual three dimensional aspect to the drawing.

Kluber attended the Rhode Island School of Design where he obtained his B.F.A. and holds an M.F.A. from the University of Iowa. He has been the recipient of a National Science Foundation grant and a Mellon Foundation Grant. Kluber is currently an Associate Professor and Chair of the Art Department at Grinnell College in Grinnell, Iowa, and has also held visiting professor positions at Iowa State University and the University of Iowa, along with being the Artist-in-Residence from 1991 to 1993 at the Des Moines Art Center. His work has been exhibited throughout the country and internationally and is included in several museum collections.

Matthew Kluber investigates the intersection of technology and art in a unique and energetic way. Both his drawings and paintings examine how color and line can transform what is being seen. His art is forging a path in the development of a new and continually evolving form, which will one day be considered a tradition in its own right.