Nothing At All is delighted to present a private exhibition by American artist Matt McCormick on view from 7 to 31 October 2022. Titled “A Thousand Miles From Nowhere”, the exhibition features a retrospective series of oil paintings by McCormick when he visited Hong Kong in 2017, which is inspired by cigarettes, an essential commodity to many people in daily lives in the past and present.

Born in 1987 in the U.S., Matt McCormick is a multimedia artist, whose artwork assimilates a diversity of cultural influences culled from the American West into an artistic vision that is as unique and dynamic as the topography itself. Within McCormick’s body of work, seemingly incompatible elements cohabitate with ease—reflecting the conflicting histories of Western culture. Here, as in his paintings and drawings, nostalgia for a fabled past abuts the realities of the “American dream” that confront him daily in Downtown Los Angeles, where his studio is located. The artist embraces these gritty aspects as equally formative to the Golden State as the homestead towns, gold rush bonanzas and 1920s Hollywood glamour that captivate our popular imagination. His works ruminate on the striking contrast between the physical inheritance of the Wild West, populated with dejected and disposable objects, and the vibrant cultural legacy that remains as alive today as ever before. McCormick’s art embodies the true spirit of America, but also the human condition, replete with renegades, risk takers and outlaws.

In this “cigarette” series, McCormick attempts to recontextualise the object itself that was a commonplace of public life in America for centuries. 

Gallery address: 38 Sai Street, Sheung Wan