Ritchie locates patterns in an unpredictable universe, with garden and flood serving as metaphors for growth and destruction

Renowned New York–based interdisciplinary artist Matthew Ritchie (born 1964) seeks to visualize thought, connecting such fields as philosophy and mythology, epic poetry and science fiction, and history and physics, through installations of paintings, wall drawings, light boxes, games, sculpture, films and performance works. His works challenge social fragmentation by suggesting a unified theory of everything.
Published for an exhibition at the Frist Art Museum, A Garden in the Flood examines a selection of his paintings, architectural structures, elaborate diagrams and hallucinatory video animations (which notably include a collaboration with the Grammy Award–winning Fisk Jubilee Singers). Employing “garden” and “flood” as metaphors for growth and destruction, transformation and renewal, Ritchie encourages readers to “reimagine the role art could play in whatever form of society may emerge next.”

Visual artist(s): Matthew Ritchie
Text by: Caroline A. Jones
Interviewer(s): Hanna Benn, Paul Kwami