Mathew Cerletty
Mathew Cerletty (b. 1980, Wauwatosa, Wisconsin) paints hyperreal depictions of signage, commercial tableaux, and everyday items with a precision that veers into the uncanny. At first glance, his paintings appear seamless, almost digital, but closer inspection reveals traces of the artist’s hand that attest to his dedication to traditional craft. Working in oil, the artist challenges the medium’s historical associations with “high” culture by elevating the supposedly banal objects that surround us, such as boxes and outlets, to subjects worthy of portraiture. Although consistent in his exacting technique, choice of medium, and approach to developing images and groupings, Cerletty composes singular works into installations that highlight the formal and conceptual connections between seemingly disparate canvases. While the subject matter draws clear inspiration from sources in popular and commercial culture, the artist eschews the mass-legibility associated with Pop, favoring an irreverence and delight in contradictions that confounds clear signification. Cerletty lives in Brooklyn.
His recent solo exhibitions include Karma, New York (2025); Herald St, London (2024); STANDARD (OSLO) (2023, 2019); Karma, Los Angeles (2022); Karma, New York (2021, 2018); The Power Station, Dallas (2020); Office Baroque, Brussels (2014); and Blum & Poe, Los Angeles (2013). Recent group exhibitions include Alexander Berggruen, New York (2019); Office Baroque (2017); Hannah Hoffman Gallery (2016); and the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York (2016). Cerletty’s works can be found in the collections of the Astrup Fearnley Museum of Modern Art, Oslo; Buffalo AKG Art Museum, New York; Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami; Madison Museum of Contemporary Art, Wisconsin; Milwaukee Art Museum, Wisconsin; and the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York.
Born 1980, Wauwatosa, Wisconsin
Lives in New York
Education
2002
BFA, Boston University
Selected Solo Exhibitions
2025
Karma, New York, End of the Line
2024
Herald St, London, Bended Knee
2023
STANDARD (OSLO), Mineral Spirits
2022
Karma, Los Angeles, True Believer
2020
The Power Station, Dallas, Full Length Mirror
2019
STANDARD (OSLO), Whiskers
2018
Karma, New York, Shelf Life
2014
Office Baroque, Brussels, Weird Vibe
2013
Blum & Poe, Los Angeles, Kitchen Island
2011
Algus Greenspon, New York, Susan
2008
Office Baroque, Antwerp, Belgium, Hotpoints
2007
Team Gallery, New York, The Feeling Is Mutual
2006
Rivington Arms, New York, and Sherman Gallery, Boston University, Fallingwater
2004
Rivington Arms, New York, Alter Ego
2003
Rivington Arms, New York, Trying to Live Beside the Point
Selected Group Exhibitions
2026
Broadway, New York, Nightswimming
2025
Karma, Thomaston, Maine, A Certain Form of Hell
2024
Karma, Thomaston, Maine, A Particular Kind of Heaven
International Objects, New York, Extra Taste
Gallerie Nazionali Barberini Corsini, Rome, Day for Night: New American Realism
2023
Derosia, New York, Holly Village II
STANDARD (OSLO), Myth of the Cherry Tree
dépendance, Brussels, On Living – With Taste
2022
O’Flaherty’s, New York, The Patriot
2020
STANDARD (OSLO), 15 Years of Standard
2019
Alexander Berggruen Gallery, New York, Words
Ashes/Ashes, New York, L’IM_MAGE_N
Super Dakota, Brussels, Think about all the James Deans and what it means
2018
Herald St, London, Use Your Illusion
Tanya Bonakdar, New York, Pine Barrens
Mitchell Algus Gallery, New York, FOTG
Museo Madre, Naples, Italy, Per formare una collezione: The Show Must Go_ON
2017
STANDARD (OSLO), Norway, Stay-At-Home-Dad; with Julia Rommel
Museo Madre, Naples, Per formare una collezione: The Show Must Go_ON Office Baroque, Brussels, Fleming Faloon
Galerie Maria Bernheim, Zurich, Friend ? ?
Metro Pictures, New York, Sputterances
2016
Galerie Patrick Seguin, Paris, Olympia; organized by Karma, New York
Carl Kostyál, Stockholm, For Pete’s Sake
Karma, Amagansett, New York, Before Midnight
Performance Ski, Aspen, Colorado, Mount Analogue Bureau, New York, Seek Professional Help
Marlborough Chelsea, New York, Landscapes
Hannah Hoffman Gallery, Los Angeles, A Change of Heart
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, Flatlands
2015
Klaus von Nichtssagend, New York, Drawings
Lisa Cooley, New York, I Dropped the Lemon Tart
Arcade, London, Paw
Office Baroque, Brussels, Rio
Anton Kern Gallery, New York, The Painter of Modern Life
Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, California, Laugh-in: Art, Comedy, Performance
2014
Office Baroque, Brussels, Nuit Américaine
High Art, Paris, Significant Others (I am small, it’s the pictures that got big)
2013
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, Test Pattern
Hôtel de Miramion, Paris, More Young Americans; curated by Susanne van Hagen and Marc-Olivier Wahler
Office Baroque, Antwerp, Belgium, Notes on Neo-Camp (traveled to Studio Voltaire, London)
Algus Greenspon, New York, The Stairs
2012
Mary Mary, Glasgow, Mathew Cerletty, Sean Kennedy, Mateo Tannat
New Jerseyy, Basel, A Post-Posteriori
Marc Jancou Contemporary, New York, I Know This But You Feel Different
2011
Harris Lieberman Gallery, New York, Heads with Tails
Klaus von Nichtssagend, New York, Discursive Arrangements, or Stubbornly Persistent Illusions
Brooklyn Academy of Music, Cover Version LP; curated by Timothy Hull
2010
MuZee, Oostende, Belgium, Public Private Paintings. 2000–2010: tien jaar schilderkunst uit publieke en privécollecties in Vlaanderen en Brussel
New Jersey Museum of Contemporary Art, Ashbury Park, It’s All American; curated by Alex
Gartenfeld and Haley Mellin
Three’s Company, New York, A Night Without Armor
Office Baroque, Antwerp, Belgium, Matthew Brannon, Mathew Cerletty, David Diao and Daniel Sinsel
2009
Museum Dhondt-Dhaenens, Sint-Martens-Latem, Belgium, When The Mood Strikes… verzameling Wilfried & Yannicke Coorema
Eleven Rivington, New York, Character Generator
Gavin Brown’s Enterprise, New York, The Living and the Dead
2008
James Fuentes, New York, 8 1/2 × 11 / A4
Matthew Marks Gallery and Greene Naftali, New York, Painting Now and Forever, Part II
Casey Kaplan Gallery, New York, Not So Subtle Subtitle
Taylor de Cordoba, Los Angeles, Cover Version
Office Baroque, Brussels, Artists of the Gallery
2007
Team Gallery, New York, The Feeling is Mutual
Arndt & Partner, Berlin, Sweet Bird of Youth
Daniel Weinberg, Los Angeles, Block Party II
Office Baroque, Antwerp, Belgium, On the Marriage Broker Joke
2006
State Hermitage Museum, Saint Petersburg and Royal Academy of Arts, London, USA Today
Mary Boone Gallery, New York, I Love My Scene
Rivington Arms, New York, Goodbye To All That
2005
Galerie Ghislaine Hussenot, Paris
Gavin Brown’s Enterprise at Passerby, New York, NeoCon
Phillips, de Pury & Company, New York, Art Review 25: Emerging US Artists
2004
Andrea Rosen Gallery, New York, Now Is A Good Time
Peres Projects, Los Angeles, Such things I do just to make myself more attractive to you
2003
Rivington Arms, New York, Be In
John Connelly Presents, New York, and Hiromi Yoshii Gallery, Tokyo, Today’s Man
2002
Rivington Arms, New York, I Kept All Your Letters
Public Collections
Astrup Fearnley Museum of Modern Art, Oslo
Buffalo AKG Art Museum, New York
Institute of Contemporary Art, Miami
Madison Museum of Contemporary Art, Wisconsin
Milwaukee Art Museum, Wisconsin
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York
Publications
2025
Mathew Cerletty, End of the Line
Karma, New York
2018
Mathew Cerletty, Shelf Life
Karma, New York
2007
Mathew Cerletty, The Feeling is Mutual
Rivington Arms, New York
