b. 1990
Matt Demers observes the fevered and cross-talking world and its odd objects, forgotten texts, and torn treasures. His experiences as an art and antiques collector, sign-maker, antiques dealer, gravedigger, and graphic artist influence the ways acrylic, spray paint, house paint, collaged ephemera, and drawn line tangle forms and associations within each other.
His paintings suggest the all-at-onceness of careworn antiques, Charlie Brown, graffiti, medieval armor, Instagram, wallpaper, and music. One sketchbook page includes a list of influences like: “growth, change, music, rhythm, comics, happy/sad, landscape, observing, masks, swirling, accumulations.” In the paintings, these associations atomize and mount into form, only to be painted out, eroded from the painting’s surface, or covered by a different thought.
Demers’ works collect everything, snagging and stacking it over the surface. They re-enact and reimagine the very pile-up of contemporary life, and the way it feels to think about it all together.
“I see these pieces as quick experiments outside of my regular practice. They came from thinking about how to emphasize and utilize old objects that I’m interested in and draw a lot of inspiration from. They allow me to play with ideas about composition, color, defacement, embellishment, and recontextualization.”
Q. If you could offer your younger self any advice at the start of your artistic career, what would it be?”
A. “I wish I had prioritized art history sooner than I did.”