Spotlight Artist

Matt Smith Chavez

Pacific Coast
Artist profile photo
Featured in New American Paintings

Artist Statement

For better or for worse, I spend a lot of time on my iPhone. I’m usually thumbing through Facebook or Instagram, and most of the time I’m looking at something related to painting. I follow various artists and galleries on Instagram, and when I find an interesting painting, I do a quick screen grab and save the image for later. I must have hundreds of these images on my phone—like everyone else, I’m first and foremost a visual consumer.

Inevitably, my painting practice exists within this larger context of digital media and consumption. I’m interested in the dead flatness of the canvas and the computer screen, and I excavate for marks and strategies that can speak to both surfaces simultaneously. Ultimately, my working process is a means to pose the question of how to sustain a meaningful painting practice within the visual economy.

Artist's Additional works

Works shared by the artist outside of their featured New American Paintings selections

Featured artwork
Featured artwork

Discover more artists from the Pacific Coast

THE MAGAZINE

Explore our magazine to discover exceptional artists

Open magazine with text, modern illustrations, and a list of artists on a pink background.
View issues

Call for Artists

Submit your work for consideration

New American Paintings is a juried exhibition-in-print and digital, presenting the work of 40 emerging artists in each issue.

View competitions

Your gateway to new art

Discover tomorrow's art stars, today

Two books on a wooden table with a modern decorative sculpture in the background.

PRINT + EARLY ACCESS DIGITAL SUBSCRIPTION

$179/YEAR

DIGITAL SUBSCRIPTION

$99/YEAR OR $10/MONTH

Each issue of New American Paintings features forty artists selected through our juried competitions—presented in a beautifully curated, full-color publication. Subscribers receive six issues per year, plus exclusive online access to current and past editions. Are you a collector? Consider our premium subscription and receive our museum-quality printed publication + access to each new digital issue two weeks before its general release.