I recently went through a harrowing experience.  I fell ( that’s not the harrowing part- kind of par for my course these days ) and took my smart phone down with me, doing major damage to the screen.  This device I’ve come to rely upon so heavily became nearly unusable.  And I went through some serious withdrawals until it was repaired!  It’s amazing, isn’t it, how in such a short period of time, these devices have become so incredibly ingrained into our lives and our behaviors?  In his abstract paintings, artist Matthew Penkala uses airbrushed acrylic to allude to those ubiquitous glowing screens.

If you go to a concert these days, you’re more likely to glimpse a sea of cell phone lights during the ballad versus the usual lighter held high treatment.  We stand in line at the grocery store, at the post office, not making eye contact or conversation with our neighbors but staring into that tiny rectangle.  They’ve enriched our lives in so many ways, digital waves keeping far away friends and family ever close, but at what cost to the people in the next house, in the next room?

To see more of Matthew Penkala‘s work, please visit his page on Artsy.net.

All images via the Western Project website.