Matthew Sugarman - Fine Art Printmaker

Renaissance Influence

Mr. Sugarman is perhaps best known for his works in printmaking and drawing that addresses contemporary political and ecological concerns utilizing Renaissance and Proto-Renaissance imagery. An early love of the compositional complexity, allegorical depth, and aesthetics found within the paintings of such Renaissance artists as Pieter Bruegel the Elder, Sandro Botticelli, Albrecht Durer and Andrea Mantegna is evident in his work. A number of his works contained within this section include specific appropriated visual elements or stylistic references to the works of specific renaissance artists.

For example, the drawing depicting Jesus Christ within the work “Limbo” contains a direct quote from Andrea Mantegna. The title refers to the legend of Christ’s decent into Limbo in order to rescue human souls trapped there. In Mr. Sugarman’s work the story is reinterpreted from a modern viewpoint. Current scientific theories of time and space describe areas within the universe in which time does not exist as we know it. Does this suggest that human consciousness might exist infinitely and outside of time as would be required by the concepts of Limbo, Heaven and Hell? This interpretation makes Christ’s metaphysical journey there both less comprehensible and more plausible.