Matt McCormick
(b. 1987)
Matt McCormick, There’s A Highway, Oil on Paper, 18'“ x 24”, 2020
Matt McCormick (b. 1987) is a multimedia artist, whose artwork assimilates a diversity of cultural influences culled from the American West into an artistic vision that is as unique and dynamic as the topography itself. Within McCormick’s body of work, seemingly incompatible elements cohabitate with ease—reflecting the conflicting histories of California, McCormick’s home state.
Matt lives and works in Los Angeles, CA. His work has been exhibited in solo and group shows in New York, Hong Kong, Miami, London, Los Angeles, Tokyo, Aspen, and San Francisco.
"A lot of it comes from a very subconscious place. One of my favorite quotes is from the artist Carmen Herrera. When asked why she makes her work, her response was, 'If I had the words, I wouldn't have to paint it.'"
MATT MCCORMICK STUDIO VISITS
Here, as in his paintings and drawings, nostalgia for a fabled past abuts the realities of poverty and strife that confront him daily in Downtown Los Angeles, where his studio is located.
The artist embraces these gritty aspects as equally formative to the Golden State as the homestead towns, gold rush bonanzas and 1920s Hollywood glamour that captivate our popular imagination. His works ruminate on the striking contrast between the physical inheritance of the Wild West, populated with dejected and disposable objects, and the vibrant cultural legacy that remains as alive today as ever before. McCormick’s art embodies the true spirit of America, but also the human condition, replete with renegades, risk takers and outlaws.
THE OFFICE. group exhibition, Feat. artists Matt McCormick and Thrush Holmes
Photo by World Red Eye