Matt Kleberg

b. 1985, Kingsville, TX

Matt Kleberg is an artist whose architectural vocabulary borrows from spatial and ornamental references such as altars, theater sets, and stages. While largely abstract in effect, Kleberg's structural frameworks suggest locales of ritual or theatrical performance. The niches, beams, and arches of his compositions are rooted in the built world, yet are illusory spaces which do not recede in space and cannot be occupied. Appearing flat and graphic, upon closer inspection they reveal wobbly lines, rough edges, and spotted fragments of color formed by layers of paint and oil stick. The textured surface provides a depth that does not immediately reveal itself, but infuses his work with a kinetic tactility reminiscent of aged concrete or crushed velvet. Kleberg’s paintings are both doorways and barriers, vacant realms humming with the potential for fullness. This effect, and the absence of the figure or icon, mirrors an anticipatory relationship to divine presence—the creation and adornment of physical space for that which eludes physical form—and the artist’s alchemical practice of elevating the mundane.

Kleberg grew up hunting and fishing on his family’s cattle ranch in South Texas. His early encounters with art were Western art books, featuring the work of Tom Lea and Frederic Remington, and paintings at the Fort Worth Modern and Kimbell Art Museums. Kleberg started painting lessons with local artist Ron Tomlinson, with whom he studied until he left for college, and learned to represent the figure or scenes from nature. Hailing from five generations of ranchers, Kleberg’s early works reflect an interest in representing a regional and familial mythology. These paintings center an iconography of cowboys, birds, and bottles, as well as Christian motifs influenced by his church-going childhood. Though Kleberg eventually developed a greater interest in the space his figures occupied than the subjects themselves, his palette embraces the earthy greens, dusty blues, and the warm terracotta tones of the South Texas landscape. Later influences include the architectural facades of the Navy Yard, the shallow recesses of his studio window, and church apses, as well as the patterning of Mexican and Turkish textiles, Byzantine and Sienese painting, and Dr. Seuss.

Kleberg received his BA in Studio Art from the University of Virginia in 2008, and his MFA from Pratt Institute in 2015. Kleberg’s work is held in the collections of the National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC; the Museum of Fine Arts Houston; Williams College Museum of Art, MA; AD&A Museum, UC Santa Barbara; Old Jail Art Center, Albany, TX; and the Addison Gallery of American Art, Andover, MA. He lives and works in San Antonio, Texas.