Matt Kleberg: Extended Stay - A Unique Color Collaboration

Reference photo sent from Matt Kleberg to R&F’s R+D Dept. for our Unique Color collaboration. The second block from the top would become our Limited Edition Quinacridone Magenta Light and the third, green block, would become Limited Edition Verdigris.

The plan went something like this.

Let’s invite an artist to come and spend some time with us here at 84 Ten Broeck, to work alongside our paint making and post production teams. We’ll put them up at Brown Pink, our Artist Residency just down the road. That way we’ll have all the time in the world to look at color, talk about color and hopefully, if all goes according to plan, combine our efforts to create a limited edition color we might then share with the world - a ‘Unique Color’ collaboration if you will.

Insert artist and wonderful human being, Matt Kleberg. Matt, a long time and avid user of R&F Pigment Sticks®, explores color and form to create work hovering between realms of pure abstraction and strict representation. The work exists here and there, and in that way is timeless. The finished paintings are often informed by and suggest architectural elements such as doorways and windows. They read as private spaces of contemplation, divine portals of light and form.

Matt Kleberg, Cheek to Jowl, Pigment Stick® on canvas, 66” x 60”, 2021. Image courtesy of Sorry We’re Closed, Brussels and the artist.

Matt’s process of direct observation, photographic documentation, and a near devotional drawing practice ultimately inform his painting practice. As we learned in our time together, Matt applies Pigment Stick® directly to the canvas surface. There is no brush, no tape, just a steady hand and time.

Reference photo from Matt Kleberg to R&F’s R+D Dept. Matt took this photo while on residency in Puglia, Italy early this year. The deep, emerald green would serve as inspiration for what would become Verdigris.

Matt Kleberg’s Verdigris Color Study, Pigment Stick® on paper, 9” x 12”, 2022. Verdigris is in the center surrounded by Viridian, Veronese Green, Malachite, Chromium Oxide Green, Courbet Green and Green Earth.

Matt Kleberg shares his process with the R&F Team.

Almost everything went according to plan. Matt flew in from San Antonio, TX and settled in nicely at Brown Pink. We got straight to work. We showed him what we do and how we do it. In return, Matt, ever generous and open, shared his process as well. We got our collective hands dirty and had a great time in the process.

Matt Kleberg with Senior Paint Maker and R&D Specialist, Maddison Ginter.

Here’s where the plan went slightly awry.

Before Matt tested positive for Covid-19 (oof!) and had to extend his stay at Brown Pink, we managed to make not one limited edition color as we had hoped, but three!

Thankfully, Matt made a full recovery and managed to use his isolation time at Brown Pink productively, making many beautiful drawings. Some of these color studies can be seen in Extended Stay: a Unique Color collaboration up now in R&F’s Gallery: Work in Progress.

Matt Kleberg’s color studies. Pigment Stick® on paper, 9” x 12”, 2022.

The three limited edition, 38 ml Pigment Sticks® colors (below) will be released soon as part of a new (6) color Unique Color Set that also includes Olive Yellow, Prussian Blue, and Green Gold Pale.

Verdigris: a deep, emerald green, reminiscent of Viridian’s top tone but significantly more opaque. Contains Titanium-Zinc White (PW6 + PW4), Phthalo Green (PG7) and Mars Yellow Light (PY42).

Quinacridone Magenta Light: a Quinacridone Magenta tint. Cool, bluish, edgy. Contains Titanium-Zinc White (PW6 + PW4) and Quinacridone Magenta (PV19).

Cadmium Coral: a clean and warm Cadmium Red Light tint. Contains Titanium-Zinc White (PW6 + PW4) and Cadmium Red Light (PR108).

R&F’s Unique Color Limited Edition Color Set will be available next month. Check with your local retailer for more information.