This evening I attended Matt Boland's art exhibit at the Kolva Sullivan Gallery. Matt was raised here in Spokane and has resided here most of his life. He attended Spokane Falls Community College for a short while and also attended college in Pullman, Washington. After college Matt was a little unsure of what his life had in store. He came to the conclusion that he wanted to pursue his dreams of becoming an artist. "I just wanted to get out of Spokane," he said. So he moved to Georgia to work with another artist. After some time spent there he realized that Spokane is where he wanted to be.
Matt is an extremely gifted artist and sculptor and displays this through his unique artwork. The exhibit appropriately labeled Scream and Shine was of ceramics and mixed media. Clay was the base for his pieces, while some were accented by screws, bolts, paint, and some other forms of mixed 
media. His biggest inspiration and influence was from comics, cartoons, and horror movies. Matt realized, specifically at the young age of 12, that he was fascinated by horror movies and wanted to create what was happening in them.
media. His biggest inspiration and influence was from comics, cartoons, and horror movies. Matt realized, specifically at the young age of 12, that he was fascinated by horror movies and wanted to create what was happening in them.One piece I felt a strong connection with was called, "Too Carry My Own Weight" (as seen in the picture to the right). It really caught my eye with the intense struggle and emotion shown in the piece. Matt explained it as depicting the stress and pressures of finishing school and entering the "real world." This is something many people can connect with. One can literally see the emotions that often times may come with the transition to a new chapter in life.
Matt explained to me that much of his work rooted from arguments and/or conflicts within himself. I really think his work can relate to anyone. All of us face struggles and our own battles through life and he has expressed many of his own through his sculptures. It was an extremely interesting exhibit in the way that each individual piece carried its own story and such a strong identity. Do you think that artwork is more relatable and enjoyable to the audience when it is on a more personal level such as Matt Boland's work?
8 comments:
I do feel like the artwork is more relatable when it is on a personal level. The artwork shown in the photo depicted exactly what I feel at times. It takes so much effort to do school and life and all the other things that are thrown at you that you do feel as though you are carrying a constant weight that is your life and everything that is contained in it. It is almost a relief that someone else also feels the same kind of weight and pressure that I, and many other people do. I think that being able to express those feelings through art like Matt Boland does, is a gift that he is lucky to have, and we are lucky to be able to share.
I agree with Chessa. Artwork is much more relatable and enjoyable when you are able to connect with it. There is just more of an appeal, because you have a sense of what is going on. When I see a piece of art that relates to what I am experiencing or have experienced before, it is much more interesting to me than when I see artwork that has no relevance whatsoever. That’s why Boland’s art, especially the piece you have shown, is so interesting to me. The emotions that are going on in the sculpture are basically a mirror image of what is going on in my life right now, particularly with the stress of school. It is like a horror movie in itself. It’s a nice change seeing works like Boland’s when most of the art I have seen recently has been happy, bright, and lacking any painful emotions.
I think that the only reason we are able to connect so well with certain art pieces is when it is a apparent that emotion lies behind it. Not one human being lives without emotion, so when gazing upon a passion filled piece of work you will find one time in you life at least that allows you to understand the work.
I love the photo of this piece. His work looks incredible simply because of the intensive and then the matter of the struggle in the work is even more compelling to me. However it leads me to wonder if there is art work that can be made extinct of emotion that can cause the viewer to still find a way to connect with it? Any ideas?
I agree with sid and what she says. I think that it is hard to take away emotion in art work only because no matter what it is someone will find something emotional about i feel. This might be stupid but for example, Say someone was to take a picture a rock band drum set ( I choose this because I am sitting in my living rooming looking at one) and they were to display it in a show. This may only apply to a group of people, but when you see that picture or painting you think about that one time or just last night when you played rock band. That brings up a memory, which brings up an emotion of when you were playing or just watching your friends play. So i think it would be hard to extinct emotion from art work, not saying that it is impossible though. When it does happen though I think that it will be harder for individuals to connect to that piece of art work.
I guess the way I see it is that if an artist is meaning to show emotion in his art, such as a person crying or yelling for example, I think people in general can 'connect' to pieces like that much easier then a painting of say a leaf(not saying they like them more, just connection). Sure some people will connect with the leaf, it might remind them of a memory or who knows what, but in my opinion I think peieces like Matts connect to virtually anybody. Like Sid said, everyone has emotions, buuut not everyone knows how to express them so sculptures like Matt's that show physical forms of emotion may have a deeper relation to its viewers.
On a different note, as an artist, I really appreciate how Matt is able to portray something that is playing a vital role in his life, and turn it into art that is up for interpretation. This is something that I struggle with a bit because it is hard not to be literal in your visual interpretation of things.
I think the reason we are able to connect with this piece is because Boland looked at a specific time in his life. He represented the emotion he felt at that point, which was intense and powerful. It's not some conceptual piece that the viewer could get lost in. It's not encompassing a million ideas and concepts. It's a very raw pointed emotion that many people feel often. And through that specificity, a million things can leap from it. I think this works also because it is surprising in the sense that we haven't seen this emotion represented in that way before. But it feels so right. I believe this ability is rare and valuable.
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