Stairs A Witch Can’t Climb

New Paintings by Matthew Bielen

July 23rd - July 30th, 2021

Four Eleven Gallery is proud to present Stairs a Witch Can't Climb: New Paintings by Matthew Bielen. This is Bielen’s second summer show with the gallery.

Stairs a Witch Can't Climb is a body of abstract work that meditates on the ideas of obstruction and preventative measure. Some New England houses were built with extremely unorthodox staircases that grew into legend as "Witches Stairs". The myth is that this structural design was thought to prevent a witch from climbing a staircase. 

While the thought of architectural intervention on supernatural or superstitious beliefs can be endearing and esthetically charming, these staircases become less of a utilitarian structure and more of a metaphor for personal barriers and / or consequent stepping stones. The thought of an eccentric, New England practice centered on spatial frugality, compared to an irrational, fearful compulsion, can help us look inward at our own fear of the unknown, real or imagined.

Matthew Bielen’s paintings are influenced by his love of the ocean, and the play between organic forms, and human’s ability to sculpt them. Growing up, his family would go to the beach on Cape Cod, where the New England beach weather was far more tempestuous than other places. His paintings are influenced by these atmospheric wanderings along the shoreline. Lighthouses, fog, swirling water, are all images conceptually implied in his paintings.

OPENING RECEPTION: FRIDAY, JULY 23rd, 7-9pm