Open Projects: Matthew Reichertz
July 15-August 31, 2012
Point Pleasant Park

Local artist Mathew Reichertz will be painting this summer in Point Pleasant Park. From July 15-August 31, 2012, the artist will be working daily, rain or shine, in the Park to create a painting that attends to the site from the perspective of a canine. The project, entitled Dog Park, will examine the sites that dogs and dog owners explore from a canine olfactory perspective.

He explains, “Point Pleasant is many things to many people. My personal experience with the Park has involved dogs and the large community of dog owners who use the Park on a daily basis. Much of my time spent exploring the Park was directed by the interests, desires and senses of a dog. Georgia and I found every running stream and standing pool of water, every flat stretch of ground for playing fetch, every heavily travelled canine route sure to have lots of interesting smells. It is my plan to follow Georgia’s nose as I seek out sites to paint in the Park.” He intends to create a long, modular painting  concentrating on the smells that captured his dog’s attention.

Mathew Reichertz, born and raised in Montréal, Québec, has a BFA from Concordia University and MFA from NSCAD University.  He has exhibited his work in solo and group exhibitions across Canada including the Musée des beaux-arts de Montréal, Sir Wilfred Grenfell College Art Gallery, Beaverbrook Art Gallery, Galerie Action Art Actual and the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia. He is the recipient of Nova Scotia creation and presentation grants and is included in a variety of institutional collections including the Art Gallery of Nova Scotia and the Dalhousie Art Gallery.  In 2006 he was shortlisted for the Sobey Art Award as the Atlantic Canada nominee and he was the national runner-up of the RBC Canadian Painting Competition. Currently he is Associate Professor in Painting at NSCAD University.

The artist will be working 10 a.m.- 4 p.m. Mondays-Fridays and occasional weekends. For daily locations and public presentations visit the project’s blog, http://www.reichertz.ca/dog-park.html. A map indicating daily locations is also available at the Gatekeeper's Lodge, Point Pleasant Park, 5737 Point Pleasant Drive, Halifax.

This project is supported by HRM Open Projects.