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As a special fundraiser to support this exhibition, the de Saisset Museum is pleased to offer unique handcolored drypoint etchings by Matt Phillips for sale. These dramatic works were produced as limited-edition drypoints at Smith Andersen Editions in Palo Alto, and Matt Phillips handcolored each print with watercolor. The resulting one-of-a-kind prints are dramatic and beautiful evocations of landscape. The de Saisset Museum thanks Paula Kirkeby and Smith Andersen Editions for their generosity in making these works available to support this exhibition. For more information, please call the museum at 408.554.4528

Pressing Pleasures: Recent Prints by Matt Phillips

September 18 – December 3, 2004

The de Saisset is pleased to present a 15-year survey of prints by Emeryville-based painter and printmaker Matt Phillips. Featuring monoprints, monotypes, linocuts, drypoints, and artist sketchbooks, this exhibition showcases Matt Phillips’ ongoing interest in celebrating the pleasures of life (literature, love, food, and travel) in his art. Pressing Pleasures will focus on several of the subjects that have preoccupied Phillips throughout his career: travel scenes, landscapes, still lifes, figure studies. The exhibition will trace how these subjects have developed in his work over the past 15 years.

In an increasingly chaotic world, Matt Phillips’ work allows us a moment of peaceful pause—a chance to delight in the simple pleasures of a masterfully placed line and a skillful touch of color. These works encourage us to slow down, savor the pleasures of life, and ultimately indulge in their beauty.

This exhibition is presented in conjunction with two other exhibitions of Matt Phillips’ work, The Magician, the Chorus Girl, and Las Vegas at Smith Andersen Editions in Palo Alto (September 8 – October 6, 2004) and Imaginary Gardens at Meyerovich Gallery in San Francisco (September 23 – November 4, 2004). Pressing Pleasures is part of a special program, A Season of Printmaking at the de Saisset, that will feature exhibitions, public programs, and events that highlight the art of printmaking. A Season of Printmaking at the de Saisset will accentuate the de Saisset Museum’s collection strength in this area and will provide a showcase for the vitality, importance, and educational potential of the printmaking medium.

link to larger-format image Matt Phillips, Painter/Poet with Red Line, 1992, collage monotype, 30 x 22 in. de Saisset Museum permanent collection, Gift of the artist, 2002.8. Photo: Charles Barry	link to larger-format image Matt Phillips, Self-Portrait I, 1992, collage monotype, 30 x 22 in., Courtesy of the artist