Matt Starr (artist)

Matt Starr
Born 1989
New Jersey
Nationality USA
Education Indiana University
Known for Conceptual art, installation art, new media art

Matthew Starr (born 1989) is a New Media Artist living and working in New York City.[1]

Early life

Matt Starr was born in Maplewood, New Jersey to Jerold Starr and Pamela Keen, where he attended Columbia High School. After graduating from high school Matt spent a year in Israel to serve in the Israeli Defense Forces. After leaving the army, Starr traveled throughout the Middle East and Europe, visiting places such as Ethiopia, Morocco, Budapest, Poland, Prague, England, France, and others. During this time Starr was introduced to documentary film-making. This introduction had a profound effect on Starr and eventually became his first creative outlet.

Life and work

Starr entered Indiana University in the Fall of 2008 with a self-designed major titled "Documentary Films That Can Change the World" with a minor in Swahili. Starr became disenchanted with documentary film and decided to explore a form of expression that could reach and affect more diverse audiences. At this time Starr enrolled in history classes that introduced him to La Nouvelle Vague and the Downtown Avant Garde which Starr says completely changed the course of his life. These movements resonated with Starr’s outlook on art and his belief that art could be anything and exist anywhere. From these roots, Starr’s theoretical art practice grew.

Starr’s art is designed around the idea of a complete and total experience, rather than screen-based art. His art is multidisciplinary and multifaceted and includes an array of New Media technologies, including 3D-Projection Mapping. Starr often explores themes dealing with low brow culture and our society’s collective tendency to obsess over and indulge in these guilty pleasures. He is attracted to and captivated by patterns and social behavior, such as a piece constructed in early 2014 combining the skeleton of an iPhone and a projector to create an IRL 'in real life' selfie generator.[2][3]

Many of Starr's projects and ideas explore social media culture and often designs his projects around a perceived online presence, rather than focusing on audience reaction in the gallery setting. Starr is also noted for often having his parents attend his art events.[4] A crucial component of Starr’s work involves working with existing architecture in order to re-contextualize, transform, and recreate spaces. One such project, Matt and Taylor’s Super Fun Magic Show, 2012 involved mapping projections onto a popular set of gates in Bloomington, Indiana.[5]

Since moving to New York City in the summer of 2013[6] Starr has worked with commercial clients as well as artists such as Kenneth Willardt, and The W Hotels.[7] At the end of 2013 Starr founded the “ : ) ” gang,[8] an art collective based in NYC that produces events in line with Starr's interest in 'total experiences' noted above.

In 2014 Starr was invited to participate in the DKNY sponsored art show, "New Art City" curated by Carlos Santollala and John Tuite. For the show Starr designed an immersive installation of his lifestyle brand "diet". Matt Starr's back room installation that featured mini trampolines, a treadmill, and various items that all bore the word "DIET" in stark, white lettering. A gorgeous view of blue skies and white clouds were also projected onto the walls so that guests had ample time to get in there #NWTS selfies in while burning calories on that treadmill.[9] David Graver of Cool Hunting said, "An entire room showcases the work of artist Matt Starr, where he has given life to a thematically ambitious wonderland of downtown cleanliness. There, a yoga goddess dangles over a grassy knoll and a full juice bar touts a clean lifestyle (though that bar will be serving rum during the event). Starr was asked to center his installation on the downtown scene, and its role almost as an urban oasis." [10]

In 2015, Starr created the viral trend "Babycore", which stresses childishness and a bright carefree sense of style and attitude. “I want people to embrace the essence of childhood and experience the total security that comes with not knowing — and not caring — what other people think,” Starr explains to Buzzfeed.[11] Babycore has been featured in most major publications, such as Mashable,[12] Refinery29,[13] and Nick Jr.,[14] and was also an inspiration behind the Jeremy Scott[15] and Hood by Air[16] fashion shows.

In 2016, Starr organized a Bernie Sanders-themed art exhibition "Weekend with Bernie" in Wayfarers Gallery in Bushwick, Brooklyn, New York. The exhibition included installation art "Faces of Bernie Sanders Dank Meme Stash" by Ryder Ripps featuring Skype video chats with members of the Facebook group Bernie Sanders' Dank Meme Stash as well as a painting of Sanders as rapper Lil B by Ryan Hemsworth. The exhibition raised over $10,000 dollars in donations to the Sanders presidential campaign.[17][18][19]

Selected Projects

References

  1. ↑ Victoria Brandt (30 October 2014). "Matt Starr". The Unlimited. Retrieved 2 November 2014.
  2. ↑ Catarinella, Alex. "Reliving Tween Girlhood with a Limited Too Recreation". Dazed Digital. Retrieved 26 February 2014.
  3. ↑ Hines, Alice. "A Journey Back To The Limited F#cking Too". Opening Ceremony. Retrieved 22 February 2014.
  4. ↑ Riley-Adams, Ella. "Kenneth Willardt's "Size Does Matter": A Building-Sized Woman, Bunnies, and Augmented Reality". The WILD Magazine. Retrieved 24 February 2014.
  5. ↑ Smith, Morgan (8 April 2012). "Sample Gates shine with 3-D projection map". Indiana Daily Student. Retrieved 20 January 2014.
  6. ↑ Riley-Adams, Ella (26 September 2013). "All's Fair In Love And Art, Even On Tinder". The WILD Magazine. Retrieved 2 November 2014.
  7. ↑ Jones, Sherice (3 February 2014). "Over-the-top Super Bowl deals". USA Today. Retrieved 26 February 2014.
  8. ↑ Hines, Alice. "A Journey Back To The Limited F#cking Too". Opening Ceremony. Retrieved 13 February 2014.
  9. ↑ Dewberry, Chloe. "Art Show: DKNY and RAAT City Present "New Art City"". Retrieved 29 August 2014.
  10. ↑ Graver, David. "DKNY Jeans + Raat City Present "New Art City" Group Show". Retrieved 27 August 2014.
  11. ↑ http://www.buzzfeed.com/mikespohr/this-guy-wants-everyone-to-start-dressing-like-kids-again#.kyNl0rP9l
  12. ↑ http://mashable.com/2015/01/27/babycore/
  13. ↑ http://www.refinery29.com/babycore
  14. ↑ http://www.nickjrparents.com.au/2015/02/01/babycore-please-oh-please-don%E2%80%99t-tell-us-real-thing
  15. ↑ http://www.papermag.com/25-is-the-new-8-why-babycore-or-rather-kidcore-is-actually-real-1427531951.html
  16. ↑ http://bullettmedia.com/article/hood-by-air-takes-babycore-to-radical-new-level/
  17. ↑ Ihaza, Jeff (24 February 2016). "How Artists Have Helped Sustain Bernie Sanders' Run To The White House". The Fader. The FADER Media group. Retrieved 27 February 2016.
  18. ↑ Armstrong, Annie (18 February 2016). "Young Artists Rally to Raise $10K for Bernie Sanders". The Creators Project. Vice Media, Inc. Retrieved 27 February 2016.
  19. ↑ "Inside "Weekend With Bernie", A Bernie Sanders-Themed Art Exhibition In Brooklyn". Paper. Paper Communications. 15 February 2016. Retrieved 29 February 2016.
This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 11/10/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.