The Phantom Arena

The Phantom Arena (2016)

Drawings, Paintings, and Collage

The Phantom Arena is a body of work created in 2016 that explores Matthew Curry’s ongoing fascination with mythology and the visual iconography that has shaped human history. Executed primarily in a monochromatic palette, the series incorporates ink, paint, and collage, allowing drips, erasures, and abstraction to emerge as integral elements of the compositions.

The works evoke a sense of ancient storytelling and symbolic language, drawing connections between the cave paintings of Lascaux and the fractured imagery of contemporary life. Through layering and fragmentation, the pieces balance figuration and abstraction, offering viewers the space to articulate their own interpretations.

The series was presented in a solo exhibition at Lost Origins Gallery (Washington, D.C.) in 2016, where selected works invited audiences to enter a visual “arena” of shifting mythologies and modern realities,