Morris Adjmi Architects

Strip Painting #1, 2009. Silicone rubber. 42.5 x 45.6 inches.

Matthias van Arkel
b. 1967, Stockholm, Sweden

Matthias van Arkel uses platinum silicone rubber to create wall-based work and sculptures that explore the formal qualities of the material. Drawing on multiple twentieth-century art movements that bring together formalist concerns of postwar abstraction, the minimalist use of industrial materials, treatment of space, the emphasis on process, and the chance of post-minimalism, the resultant works are expressionistic but also have a strong tactile quality.

On an emotional level, van Arkel’s work exemplifies MA Art’s three-fold mission: to keep the environment fresh, to inspire people, and to connect artists with clients and collectors. His solo exhibition at the MA office in 2016 led to a client acquiring work of his for the lobby of the Williams, shown below. Additionally, MA subsequently facilitated a commission for van Arkel to create a mural for the firm’s Atlantic Plumbing Building in Washington, D.C., and casts of his work will be used to create the zinc-clad façade of an upcoming MA project located at 419 Broadway, also shown below.

Installation view of Matthias van Arkel, Gobelin (F.A.S.) in the lobby of the Williams building, 2012. Silicone rubber. 106.3 x 137 inches.
Prototype of zinc cast to be used on the façade of 419 Broadway / Rendering of façade of 419 Broadway.

Matthias van Arkel works between Sweden and New York. He received his MFA from University College of Arts and studied painting at the Royal Institute of Art, both in Stockholm, Sweden. He has exhibited extensively both in Sweden and internationally, and is represented in several public and private collections, including Moderna Museet in Stockholm. Among his several public commissions are a large two-part painting at the Jakobsberg bus terminal, north of Stockholm, Sweden, and commissions in the United States facilitated by MA.

Installation view of Matthias van Arkel exhibition at the MA office, February 4 – April 29, 2016