Matt Saunders CCA Artist Lecture September 27th, 2007
Matt Saunders is obsessed with film. He is interested in the immortalization of a person through the medium of film. He uses a lot of Mylar and silver paint in his work. Both materials reference the physical properties of film. His work seems to get as close as it can to being film, while always keeping one solid foot in painting and drawing. He takes stills of movies from his TV using a Polaroid instant camera and uses those snapshots as a jumping off place for his paintings.
Matt was very nervous throughout the talk and it was very hard to hear him. This was his first lecture and he seemed to be plowing through his work, always conscious of time. I noticed time is a big component of his work. His personality matches his paintings, soft, quiet, a little mysterious. At the same time his paintings are straightforward. They don’t expect the viewer to know anything about the content, we as viewers are allowed to just enjoy them as they are. He tried to explain several times throughout the lecture that although the film stills that he chooses to make his paintings from do have personal meaning to him, he doesn’t need or expect the viewer to understand this deeper connection to the work.
The pieces I was most interested in were the films of multiple drawings. Most of them use the same rough outline as a start, so that although each image is unique, when shows as frames in a film, they have a uniformity to them that makes for a cohesive final film. He pairs music with the videos to help give the films a certain feeling. Without the music, the videos would seem repetitive and non-narrative. He asks friends to record music to go along with the films. The music for the two pieces he showed us, had an intimate quality to them and I was surprised at how successful they were at enhancing the experience of watching the films. Music gives them a solid sense of linear flow; a sense of time and place. Music gives these pieces a narrative that they would not have on their own.
Saunders at several points made references to using movies as his connection to the world. He mentioned that he judged friends on their lists of favorite movies. To him, movies are a means of defining personality. It seems fitting that he involves friends in his projects by having them contribute music. I can see him doing more collaborations like this in the future. I think it’s an aspect of his work that should be emphasized and strengthened.