Matthew Ritchie's Free Public Artist Lecture May 12 in Beverly, MA

Montserrat College of Art would like to welcome the public to a free artist lecture by renowned New York-based interdisciplinary artist Matthew Ritchie on Thursday, May 12 at 6:30 p.m. at The Cabot Performing Arts Center, 286 Cabot Street, Beverly, doors open at 6 p.m. Following the lecture will be an Artist Reception with Ritchie’s work on display in Montserrat’s Carol Schlosberg Alumni Gallery, 23 Essex Street, 8 – 9 p.m. This event is sponsored by Eastern Bank and registration is requested by contacting gallery@montserrat.edu. Ritchie will also be the keynote commencement speaker and honorary doctoral recipient at Montserrat’s graduation ceremonies the following day.

Ritchie’s paintings, installations and narrative threads delineate the universe’s formation as well as the attempts and limits of human consciousness to comprehend its vastness. His work deals explicitly with the idea of information being “on the surface,” and information is also the subject of his work. Ritchie's practice as a multimedia artist whose installations challenge established modes of contemporary art making provides an inspiring model. At a time when information becomes available at ever-expanding rates, his work both provocatively highlights that capacity and innovatively redefines visualization, installation, and modes of connectivity among a compelling range of sources.

Matthew Ritchie was born in London, England, in 1964, and lives and works in New York. He received a BFA from Camberwell School of Art, London, and attended Boston University. His artistic mission has been no less ambitious than an attempt to represent the entire universe and the structures of knowledge and belief that we use to understand and visualize it. Ritchie’s encyclopedic project (continually expanding and evolving, like the universe itself) stems from his imagination, and is catalogued in a conceptual chart replete with allusions drawn from Judeo-Christian religion, occult practices, Gnostic traditions, and scientific elements and principles. See Ritchie’s work at www.matthewritchie.com.

For more information and to register for this event, please contact Montserrat College of Art Galleries at gallery@montserrat.edu, 978-867-9624.