These pieces were created during quarantine. Prior to the pandemic, I had a large studio floor where I would work on pieces over long periods of time in short spurts. Due to quarantine, I no longer had a studio. I began mimicking the same process on blank canvases, treating them the same way I had the floor of my studio. I would work for two to four minutes at a time throughout the day, for months. Adding layers and layers of mixed media, collages, papers, making postcards of my own works... I might print out a thousand postcards of my own works, repeat them on the canvas and cover the paint over them. It felt a bit like stealing from myself. All the while, trying to make something that appears like I found it on a wall, like a playbill. The process consisted of applying layers, tearing them away, applying layers, tearing it all away. The tearing away is just as important as the layering. There’s a sense of two steps forward, one step back with these pieces, where I’m constantly painting over myself and losing the work to gain the greater work. The process became about combining smaller works onto the canvas, losing them in the process, and gaining a bigger picture.

These works were done from April through July of Covid. They were the first pieces I made in this fashion. They possess a certain sense of loss and perspective. It was my form of making the most out of being in my own waiting room at home. The process at the time did not feel particularly emotional. Once I shipped them off to NY, the catharsis of them hit me. I felt quite emotional about them. I surprised myself with these pieces. A lot of them I made while listening to a friend recite poetry, or talking on the phone to different people. I might subconsciously write a conversation on the canvas, then cover it up. There are many half phrases. It’s almost written in code. I was talking to people and listening to music while I was working. They lived very much in the subconscious. - MATT MAUST