Matthew Harris, Sky without stars, 2023, ochre, charcoal and acrylic on hessian, 198.00 x 153.00 x 2.50 cm, TCG22956
(photo: Christo Crocker) private collection, Sydney

Sky Without Stars is a departure from the mostly fluid shapes in the other works. On one hand it’s cross-hatching and weaving, on the other it’s a rigid white system dividing and restricting the black cells. The Big Smoke. A system, a city grid, a skyscraper, sprawl, farms, fences, prisons, graves, order and control. It’s also an abstract painting. An Agnes Martin work made me cry in the middle of Art Basel one time. On my tenth storey balcony in the middle of the city I get the sun, wind, rain, fog, thunder, lightning, earthquakes and the moon — but never the stars. —Mathew Harris