matthew gantt: a contest of legacies

October 19th - November 11th, 2019

Opening Reception
Saturday October 19th, 2019
6:00pm to 9:00pm with the artist in attendance

Facebook event link HERE.

Closing Reception & Artist Discussion
Monday November 11th, 2019 (Veterans Day)
1:00pm

Location
6448 Hwy 290 E., Suite A102, Austin, TX 78723

For his second solo exhibition with CAMIBAart Gallery, Matthew Gantt has created a new tribe of what we are calling modern guardian totems, but that he probably prefers we simply call artworks. The artist renders his signature style by first randomly throwing ink onto folded paper and blotting it repeatedly until he spontaneously sees an image; similar to the making of the Rorschach Test ink blot. Matthew then enhance the image using painting and line work to ensure that others see what his mind first saw in the chaos. Come explore the imagination and most recent artworks of Matthew Gantt.

This exhibit is scheduled to end with an artist discussion on Veteran’s Day, and is part of the Austin Veteran Arts Festival.

The artist’s thoughts on his service and art:
As an artist, joining the military probably seemed like an odd choice to people who knew me back in 1994. Being a nerdy type with long, curly hair, I was easily the last person any of my friends and family thought would join the army. But one of the reasons I joined was to test my mettle, see what I was made of; and while I found that out, I never stopped being an artist. It was during my service that I experimented with ink blots which lead to the development of my particular style. So my time in the U.S. Army not only lead to discovering much about myself and my potential, it lead to my development of a way to continually learn more about myself for years to come.

About the Artist:

Matthew Gantt is a graduate of the Seattle Film Institute and a visual artist who has worked in various mediums ranging from film to sculpture to ink drawing. In 1996, he developed a technique of rendering mythopoeic images from the collective unconscious called Constellationism. He is a decorated U.S. Army veteran, an Associate of the Joseph Campbell Foundation, a member of the Jung Center of Houston, and a member of the Houston Zen Center.

He currently resides in the diverse city of Houston, where he keeps a studio at Silver Street Studios. When he is not making art or meditating, he can usually be found in his favorite armchair reading or in the kitchen cooking Japanese food for his wife and son.