The Elmhurst Art Museum is proud to present a solo exhibition of contemporary Chicago artist and educator Matthew Girson in the Elmhurst Art Museum’s Mies van der Roe-designed McCormick House. Titled Still Lives at 4:00 AM and curated by Liz Chilsen, Manager of Exhibitions and Collections, the exhibition features a series of still life paintings of empty vessels and floral prints, captured in restrained color and diminished light, as a way of reflecting on loss, absence, and lack. Using “4:00 AM colors” that dissolve into grey, visitors’ eyes struggle to discern detail and form, as brushstrokes and subtle shifts in color slowly reveal themselves upon longer looking. For Girson, the subjects he paints are not as important as the things Girson chooses not to include: absent are the flowers themselves, as well as their color--but their beauty is gleaned in the duration of time taken with them.

Matthew Girson makes paintings that explore the depth and range of the discipline as a physical medium, historical subject, and poetic opportunity. Specific themes in his paintings over the past 30 years include the relationship between abstraction and representation and how they operate within modern democracies. He has exhibited nationally and internationally, and will be an Artist In Residence at the Lost and Found Lab in Connecticut in March 2027. His work is held in numerous public and private collections including the Illinois Holocaust Museum and Education Center. He is a Professor in the Art School at DePaul University where he teaches painting, drawing, and seminars on contemporary art.

The exhibition will be on view at the Elmhurst Art Museum, 150 South Cottage Hill Avenue in Elmhurst, from January 23 to April 25, 2027.