Matthew McConville

Biography
Matthew McConville (b. 1965) continues the series, Flowers for the Anthropocene, comprising exquisitely detailed paintings of imagined plant life. These works draw from traditional flower painting, scientific illustration, science fiction, and experimental process, resulting in luminous visions of possible future ecologies.

Inspired by the tradition of flower painting, which combines decorative beauty with themes of transience and mortality, McConville’s work also references the precision and stark backdrops of scientific illustration. The artist incorporates speculative possibilities of science fiction, mutation, hybridity, and gene editing to suggest how future life forms might be artificially altered. At the core of his work, McConville is also interested in coevolution, and the exchange between flowers and pollinators. While often reciprocal, this relationship can take darker turns such as carnivorous plants that lure and trap insects.

McConville’s work has been exhibited nationally, including at the Baltimore Museum of Art, Des Moines Art Center, Iowa, Minnesota Museum of American Art, and Florida Atlantic University and is included in numerous collections, such as 21c Museum Hotel Collection, Johns Hopkins Hospital, and the Weisman Museum of Art. McConville currently lives and works in Baldwin, MD.

These four influences—tradition, science, speculation, and chance—appear in varying degrees across the series. At the heart of the work is an interest in coevolution: the way flowering plants developed color, scent, and form in response to their pollinators. In nature, this exchange is often transactional—nectar in return for pollination.

However, as seen in works like Honeypot, this relationship can take darker turns. Pitcher plants, for instance, mimic the attractors of typical flowers but function as traps. Insects lured in fall into digestive fluids, breaking down into nutrients like nitrogen that the plant absorbs.

Other botanical structures—roots, stems, bulbs—play vital roles in survival, growth, and even commerce. Bulbs store energy and are often traded as commodities, revealing another layer of value and exploitation in our relationship with plants. – Matthew McConville

Education
1995
The University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA, MA, MFA

1988
Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, RI, BFA

Exhibitions
2020
Flowers for the Anthropocene, Richard Levy Gallery, Albuquerque, NM

2017
Confected, Richard Levy Gallery, Albuquerque, NM

2014
Matthew McConville, Hamilton Street Club, Baltimore, MD

2013
Matthew McConville, Montpelier Art Center, Laurel, MD
[In]finite Garden, Delicious Spectacle, Washington, D.C., curated by Dan Perkins
This is ok, Kaus Australis Rotterdam, Netherlands
Brave New Wonderland, Hunt Gallery, Webster University, St. Louis, MO

2012
Paint by Numbers, Richard Levy Gallery, Albuquerque, NM
Labors & Recreations, Chesapeake Gallery at Harford Community College, Bel Air, MD
Drawing School, The Gallery at CCBC Catonsville, Catonsville, MD

2011
Maryland Regional Biennial, University of Maryland College, Adelphi, MD

2010
Interrupted Terrains, Gallery One Visual Arts Center, Ellensburg, WA
The Painting Show, Richard Levy Gallery, Albuquerque, NM
Spectra: An Exhibition of Work by Goucher Art Faculty, Silber Gallery at Goucher College, Baltimore, MD

2009
Minument: Reconstruction, Minstallation Gallery, Baltimore, MD
Richard Levy Gallery, Albuquerque, NM (solo project room)
A Rair Family, Roswell Museum and Art Center, Roswell, NM

2008
Front Room: Notes on Monumentality, The Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore, MD Passage, The Library, Baltimore, MD
Aquaart Miami, Miami, FL

2007
Transparent Dialogs, The Community College of Baltimore County, Catonsville, MD
Re- Enactments, Current Gallery, Baltimore, MD

2005
Topia Utopia Dystopia, The Community College of Baltimore County, Catonsville, MD

2004
Chicago/ Baltimore, Baltimore, MD
Our Perfect World, Maryland Art Place, Baltimore, MD
Sugar and Snails, Park School Gallery, Baltimore, MD

2003
Rosenberg Gallery Goucher College, Baltimore, MD
Beth Urdang Gallery, Boston, MA

2002
Faculty Exhibition, Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore, MA

2001
Faculty Exhibition, Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore, MA

2000
Faculty Exhibition, Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore, MA
Perrelli Gallery, Baltimore, MA
College of William and Mary, Williamsburg, VA

1999
Faculty Exhibition, Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore, MA

1998
Paintings and Prints, Cindy Bordeau Gallery, Chicago, IL

1996
Iowa Artists 1996, Des Moines Art Center, Des Moines, IA
Drawings Midwest, Minnesota Museum of American Art, Saint Paul, MN
LaFontsee Gallery, Grand Rapids, MI

1995
Gwenda Jay Gallery, Chicago, IL
Mills Art Gallery, Pella, IA

1994
Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton, FL

Collections
21C Museum Hotels
Charlotte Bloomberg Children’s Center and the Sheikh Zayed Tower, Johns Hopkins Hospital, Baltimore, MD
The Federal Reserve, Minneapolis, MN
Iowa State Bank, Iowa City, IA
Medtronic, Minneapolis, MN
New Mexico State Art Collection, Santa Fe NM
T.L. Solien, Madison, WI
United States Park Service, Isle Royale National Park, Houghton, MI
University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics, Iowa City, IA
Weisman Museum of Art, Minneapolis, MN

Awards
2012
Isle Royale National Park, MI,  Artist in Residence
Maryland Institute College of Art, Baltimore, MD, Sondheim Prize Semifinalist Exhibition
Goucher College Summer Research Grant

2006
Maryland State Arts Council, Individual Artist Award

2004
Maryland State Arts Council, Individual Artist Award
Creative Capital, Professional Development Program

2002
Maryland State Arts Council, Individual Artist Award

1999
Akasha, Minneapolis, MN, Artist In Residence

1998
Akasha, Minneapolis, MN, Artist In Residence

1997
Akasha, Minneapolis, MN, Artist In Residence

1996
Des Moines Art Center, Des Moines, IA; “Works on paper” award

1995
The University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA; Mildred Pelzer Fellowship

Press
2017
Confected, Wall Street International Magazine, March 15

2014
Halb Wachend, Halb im Schlaf, Theater Basel, March 26 (image)

2013
PULSE of Contemporary American Artists, Americana Week, May 10

2012
Jason Franz, International Painting Annual, Manifest Press, Volume 2
Preview image for Paint By Numbers,  Art Openings Page 3, THE Magazine, July

2009
Susan Emerling, The Shifting Nature of Earth Artists, Los Angeles Times, August 16
Ellen Berkovitch, Art in New Mexico, Adobe Airstream Online Magazine, July 5
Wesley Pulkka,  Fresh Visions Abound in LAND/ART exhibits, Albuquerque Journal, July 5

2008
Kate Noonan, Group Dynamics, Baltimore City Paper, August 6
Janelle Porter, New American Paintings Book 75,Open Studios Press

2003
Gadi Decter, The New Handsome, Baltimore City Paper, Vol. 27 No. 16 Page 33 April 16

1996
Janet Farber, Iowa Artists, Des Moines Art Center
Jack Livingston, Radar, Issue 5 Page 19
Eliot Nusbaum, Des Moines Register, March

1995
Steven T. Zevitas, New American Paintings IV, Open Studios Press

1994
Eliot Nusbaum, Des Moines Register, September

Press Release
2024 Richard Levy Gallery at Atlanta Art Fair

2021 Springtime at Pie Projects

2020 Flowers for the Anthropocene at Richard Levy Gallery

2017 Confected at Richard Levy Gallery

2010 The Painting Show at Richard Levy Gallery

2009 Earthworks at Richard Levy Gallery