Despite a common assumption that art is a solitary pursuit, undertaken by single-minded visionaries, the art world maintains a privileged spot for artists who work cooperatively and relationally. Many artists work in cooperative groups such as the Guerilla Girls who took on social issues through like-minded activism, while others like Francis Alÿs collaborate with the environment itself, allowing his terrain and architecture to shape his artistic path. Others still, like the late Felix Gonzales Torres, create relational art that is only finally completed by the actions of the viewer and participant. In light of the upcoming presidential election, and in the shadow of the Republican National Convention, the 4 artists in this current exhibition cycle at Saint Kate-Nick Lamia, Colin Matthes, Sara Sowell, and Seth Ter Haar-will collaborate with each other to create their respective exhibitions as a symbolic gesture of social cooperation.
About Colin Matthes
I have two young kids; my world is now small. I have gained confidence out of necessity; I no longer have room for aimlessness or indecision. When I steal time, storytelling, anxiousness, research, and humor are used to make things that solve problems or to make things about the idea of solving problems. I’m an artist, father, husband, and citizen. I work on multiple projects at once, each distinct but informing the others. I always show the means of production. The process, the fingerprints, the screwups. I have two young kids; my world is small. I’m confident out of necessity;I no longer have room for aimlessness or indecision. When I steal time, storytelling, anxiousness, research, and humor are used to make things that solve problems or to make things about the idea of solving problems. Essential Knowledge, my central project, is a series of instructional drawings I make to learn, retain information, and figure things out. They are for sharing obsessions, life lessons, jokes, and revealing too much. Hopefully, as I draw about what is most important, it will make us all a little more formidable when facing life’s challenges.
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