Matthew Buckingham

MCA Denver presented a new survey exhibition featuring the work of conceptual artist Matthew Buckingham. Through the use of various media including film, photography, video, drawing, and writing, Buckingham’s work investigates two main themes: history and time. Using these subjects, Buckingham evokes a personal connection or memory from the individual viewer. This major survey of his grippingly captivating projects illustrated Buckingham's ability to create stories that unfold and produce reflections on the past, present, and future.

This exhibition included works that truly define the artist’s flawless approach to create and reflect on history including Celeritas, a cabinet that calculates the speed of light that it is illuminated by, resulting in contemplation of our relation to the intangible sources of light and speed that surround us, and The Six Grandfathers, Paha Sapa, in the Year 502,002 C.E., a timeline leading up to a photo of the eventual disappearance of the faces on Mount Rushmore. Other recent works investigated the indigenous history of the Hudson River Valley; the creative destruction of the city of St. Louis; and the inception of the first English dictionary.

Matthew Buckingham was born in 1963 and lives and works in New York, New York. He studied at the Art Institute of Chicago, Illinois received a BA from the University of Iowa, Iowa City in the renowned film production and film studies program, an MFA from Bard College, New York and attended the Whitney Independent Study Program. His work has been exhibited at ARC / Musée d’Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, Paris; Camden Arts Centre, London; The Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, DC; Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofia in Madrid, Spain; P.S.1, New York; and The Whitney Museum of American Art, New York. He was a 2003 recipient of the DAAD Artist in Berlin Fellowship.