Artist-in-Residence Talk: Matt Liddle

Matt Liddle is currently busy in the Morgan’s studios. He will present a short talk addressing his conceptual, technical, and artistic influences as well as the processes he is experimenting with during his residency.

Pizza, beverages, and lasting food for thought will be provided.

As always, our artist talks are free + open to all.

About the artist:
“Printmaking and the book arts are at the center of my creative practice. I am a writer and picture maker and aspire to create work that integrates the multiple elements of image, word and material. I think about images and visual concepts graphically, and as things to be constructed through process. I have a broad interest in the the variety of conceptual approaches to the book as an art form, including illustrated books, artist’s books, and sculptural bookworks. I am interested in the book as a material object and my work employs the crafts of printing, papermaking, and bookbinding. I like the cleverness of book structures and the manual/visual experience of looking at books.
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A number of visual motifs and conceptual themes are consistent through my work. I am fascinated by grids and patterns. I find and appropriate patterns from man made forms (bricks, graph paper, pegboard, tire tread, etc) and put them into new visual contexts. Disconnected from their original use, these patterns can be appreciated for their visual interest and the possibilities they offer for suggesting other meaning. These visual structures serve as metaphors of the analytical way we have developed to understand our complex universe, always trying to map it, measure it and understand what we cannot see.
The relationship between human beings, animals and the environment is a primary conceptual interest. The tension between the natural landscape and the built environment shows in the repetition of architectural imagery. Brick walls serve as both a decorative pattern and a metaphor of structure and separation. The building of walls can be seen as the natural process of nest building, the beautiful evidence of human ingenuity and achievement, or a testament to the human folly of trying to control territory, and dominate the earth and each other. The building, as am image and form, also serves as a metaphor of the interior and private life of the mind.”