Preview: Matt Kleberg: Pigeon Holes @ Berggruen Gallery, San Francisco

Central to this exhibition is the concept of the columbarium—an architectural structure dedicated to the dignified retention and ceremonial presentation of funerary urns. The artist’s recent encounter with an ancient Roman columbarium segment displayed at the San Antonio Museum of Art sparked an intrigue, particularly inspired by the repetition of arch-shaped compartments within the façade. The term “columbarium” derives from the Latin phrase for “dovecote,” historically referring to structures crafted to shelter doves or pigeons. The manifold, niche-like compartments found within shaped the origin of the term “pigeonhole.” With a background in figuration, Kleberg approaches these paintings not merely as geometric abstractions but as unpopulated figural works. The wall-mounted paintings amount to a kaleidoscopic columbarium of sorts, their openings framed like electrically charged absences, populated here and there by the occasional Bust painting standing in as a statuary vessel. Within this context, Kleberg’s niches serve as metaphors, embodying connection and potentially even assuming the role of human proxies. The arching forms cradle one another in an intimate embrace, evoking a resonance akin to the aesthetics of family portraiture. Balancing a sense of familiarity and harmony, these spaces also harbor an enigmatic quality, mirroring the complex facets of human relationships. 

Kleberg’s palette embraces earthy greens, the sky’s dusty blue, and the warm terracotta tones of the South Texas landscape. Vivid, saturated hues disrupt these foundational pigments: the striking vermillion of a coral snake or the funk chartreuse of a green jay. These combinations give rise to an otherworldly chroma, culminating in an optical spectacle where multiple colors vie for prominence within the pictorial plane. The artist’s command over the tactile nature of his medium, oil stick, infuses his work with a kinetic textural quality reminiscent of crushed velvet or television static. Delicate, spotted fragments of color from the underlying layers of oil stick emerge, bestowing the paintings with a depth that is often obscured unless viewed closely and in person. This tension enhances the anticipatory nature of the work, reflecting the potential for fullness within ostensibly vacant realms.