Over the course of his young career, Matthew Palladino has taken up multiple mediums, and considers each new shift as “another mutation of the thing that came before it.” Palladino first became known for his works in watercolor, ink on paper, and acrylic paint. He then moved on to three-dimensional reliefs, made in part from candy molds. “I just got tired of the illusion of painting,” Palladino said. “I wanted to see the objects I painted in person, not just their representations.” Both his two- and three-dimensional works share a biting humor, variations on grid-based compositions, references to pop culture and art history, and optical illusions that distort spatial relationships. He cites his main influences as Margaret Kilgallen, Chris Johanson, and Barry McGee.