A quintessential postmodern artist, Matthew Weinstein draws on film, politics, philosophy, popular culture, music, and literature of all kinds to locate his artistic practice within a broader continuum of cultural production. Switching fluidly between mediums, whether artistic or commercial, enables Weinstein to express, in his words, a “culturally transgendered vision.”

Included here are large-scale paintings on aluminum and copper; his most recent computer-generated installation, Anna Kavan: The Living End; and a brand-new animation, The Last Cigarette, which is having its premier at the Johnson. Exhibited together, they create an imaginary space in which traditional lines between the literal and metaphorical collapse. The Living End is based on the British science fiction writer Anna Kavan’s final book, Ice, first published fifty years ago but recently called “a haunting story of sexual assault and climate catastrophe, decades ahead of its time” by the New Yorker. Weinstein’s adaptation is an interactive video installation, in which a narrator—one of the artist’s many female avatars—tells the story of her life. Sensors in the gallery record the heartbeat and body temperature of viewers, which in turn affects visual aspects of the projected images, attempting to envision the feedback mechanism between viewers and their objects of contemplation.

Anna Kavan: The Living End was supported by \Art ("backslash art"), an annual fellowship at Cornell Tech that partners artists with Cornell Tech graduates to create art that escapes convention: new art forms, and new art technologies.

Cruising 1980 (2010) is on view on the Museum's facade from sundown until 11 p.m. every night for the duration of the exhibition.

This exhibition was curated by Andrea Inselmann, curator of modern and contemporary art at the Johnson Museum. Matthew Weinstein: The Living End has been made possible in part by a grant from the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and the New York State Legislature.