Matthew Woodward in his Chicago studio.
After viewing the current show taking place at Linda Warren Projects, showcasing the works of Matthew Woodward and Jason Brammer, I had the pleasure to meet Woodward for an interview in his studio. The show will be up through December 7, 2013. The address to the gallery is 327 N. Aberdeen, ste 151, Chicago.
Matthew Woodward is a Chicago based artist, born in Rochester, NY. He achieved his B.F.A. from the School of the Art Institute Chicago in 2005. He later received his M.F.A. in 2007 from the New York Academy of Art.
VL: You currently have an exhibition up with Jason Brammer, at Linda Warren, in Chicago. What is your relationship with Brammer, and how do you see both your works relating to each other?
MW: Jason and I both use found objects. That is probably the main point of intersection between us. Whereas I more or less condemn them, he does not. He keeps his very much in line with what his found objects were potentially trying to operate as, and uses them, sort of engenders them, elevates them as if they were some kind of ritualistic occult object. And with mine, I sort of submerge mine. The signal of their calling is maintained powerfully, but it’s a little beheaded. His are still operating fluidly as if they were William Parke-Harrison props; it looks like Jason’s works would show up in one of his drawings. The thing that I like about Jason’s work, is that he allows the patterns that we use these things for, to stay awake. You look at his work and the playful austerity of being confronted by his work, there’s the belief patterns that are still alive in these found objects. As if you’re waking up from a dream, where everything is ok, but nothing’s alive. That’s what we have most in common.
VL: Do you know him personally too?
MW: I didn’t before the show, really. We had emailed a few times, and shaken hands. But he’s a sweet guy, a great person to show with, incredibly intelligent, and humblingly down to earth.
VL: What is the underlying theme of your work about?
MW: A charity of in pass, the crisis of body in place where there’s no time, architectural body of grief.
VL: Most of your paintings featured in this exhibition have a lot of texture and 3D to them. What promoted you to start working out from the canvas?
MW: I wanted to start backing up some of the things I was talking about in terms of architectural space, and the only way to do that was to literally make you have to approach these, touch them a way a tactile memory asks to touch it. So, these became more 3 dimensional, and reach off the ground at you, the way of, simply from the surface, and from the actual angle of the piece itself reaching.
VL: While walking through your show at Linda Warren, I noticed a torn red blackhawks t-shirt stretched over the top of a metal sheet, with the corners curled up. Where did the idea originate, to specifically use that blackhawks t-shirt? Is it in reference to the Stanley cup this year?
MW: No, it’s not in reference to the Stanley cup. But that’s ok. it’s impossible for me to bypass that t-shirt’s ability to talk to you of what it actually is. With Jason’s work it’s been things re-appropriated, with my work and some of these surfaces and things have been re-appropriated. For mine, that shirt is so loud, it screams blackhawks, I can’t get past it. But some of these things I can traverse over. The fact that this [pointing to painting on left in the image above] is wood glue, you’d never know that; it’s still technically becoming, it still is treated as a found object. Or, the piece of metal that’s no longer being used for what it’s supposed to be used for, but it’s become subserving and the blackhawks jersey, shirt, it’s so incredibly culturally relevant that it sort of steps over. Which is also spatial. It’s my favorite piece in the show [referring to the blackhawks metal piece, shown below].
VL: You also did a residence in Berlin this year. Can you talk about your experience there, and how it changed you as an artist and as an individual?
MW: It changed me as an artist and an individual, in a very spiritual way. That was the coldest winter winter on record in the history of recorded winters in Berlin. And we were there to make art, and it was back breakingly cold. I fell in love with that city walking around sort of sends you into yourself, to find the warmth. I focused as much on my work as I did on myself when I was there. It happened organically. The language barrier was really powerful, which blocked the three of us residents out with each other. It was rather isolating, but in a very good way. That triptych [featured in the Linda Warren show] came out of it, which was a hell of a piece. I made millions of cross-hatch marks. I’ve never done anything like that before.
VL: How long did it take to make those [triptych drawings]?
MW: Each one took about 3 and a half weeks. 12 to 15 hour days.
VL: Who else was with you on the residence?
MW: Sarah Elise Hall, I just finished an interview with. She writes for Art Rated. And Michael Madors, a fantastic artist. They were rehabbing the building while we lived in it, and worked in it, and all 3 of us took on qualities of that rehab. It was very strange; we started to rip our work apart, destroy it, basically. It was incredible. Everyone should do a residency. Strange things start to happen to you.
VL: Where else have you done residencies?
MW: I’ve been to Ireland, which I was alone for a month by myself. In France, to upstate New York, and to Vermont.
VL: You grew up in New York State, and after pursuing a BFA from the Art Institute of Chicago, you went back to earn an MFA at the New York Academy of Art. What inspired you to make your way back here, to Chicago?
MW: In part, the work that I wanted to make, I could not afford to make in a small bedroom apartment in Jersey City. That’s pretty much it. I love New York, and it’s my home, but as far as making a serious body of massive drawings, I need storage, and I need some money in my checking account. So I came back here, where the space is plentiful, and the rent is pretty cheap. With that being said, there is a lot of sacrifices to being here, there’s that ambivalent scene in Chicago, that specifically doesn’t exist in New York. The New York art scene is so omnipresent, and it can be rather overwhelming. Here you get a whole lot of work done, because there’s not a lot to do while you’re here. And I think everyone should stay in Chicago after they graduate, for at least 5 years.
VL: How would you compare the Chicago, New York, and Berlin art scenes?
MW: I didn’t really go to many shows in Berlin; I wasn’t really concerned with what was going on there. Berlin was more a place to make art, and walk around the city, get lost in the city, get lost in yourself, and watch spring come over. New York is this massive impossible to overestimate thing that I couldn’t possibly throw myself into at this point. I have friends who were there, they love it, but they don’t get to paint as much as they like. That sort of defeats the purpose of being there at all. That’s a strange reconciliation you have to have with yourself, is: do you want to be around art, or do you want to make art? I don’t have any beef with New York, I love New York. It seems too much for me. Chicago…What’s great about Chicago is that it’s so experimental, and whimsical, and the scene here is sort of coming and going, and constantly in flux, if there’s a scene at all; I don’t know, I don’t go to a lot of shows, I go to some. But never to openings. I don’t know so much to read a profile, I mostly stay focused on my own stuff, but that’s more than a professional decision that’s a personal decision. It’s not about what’s going on there, what’s going on here.
VL: Do you see yourself living here and staying here for the rest of your career and life?
MW: Absolutely not. No. I’d like to go to New York. I say the rent is cheap here, but I could go somewhere else where it’s cheaper, go to St. Louis or something. I like this sort of isolated studio/practice life. I don’t know if I can maintain it forever, but if something comes up in New York, if someone’s interested, I’ll go there. But it’s a long career, it’s a long trajectory, and the most important thing is not staying burnt out. And I don’t want to go to New York and get burnt out, become a flash in the pan, and come back or go somewhere else. The most important thing is to build an encyclopedia of work.
Check out more about Matthew Woodward on his website: http://mdwoodward.com/index.html
Contemporary Art Talk 