A “Beautiful Nightmare” in the Gallery.
Posted November 25th, 2007 by vikkid in Newsstrong>Photography exhibit on display through Saturday, December 22.
Access Tucson Gallery Hours
Mondays and Wednesday through Saturday
Noon – 10pm
Closed Sundays and Tuesdays
Artist Statement by Matthew Yates:
A few years back, while cleaning out my very Christian grandparents home, I had the voyeuristic desire to find something hidden in a shoebox, an artifact of the bizarre, a proof of a darker and secret life. Alas, I never found any evidence to support my suspicions, so I decided that not only I wanted to find these hidden treasures: I wanted to create them.
The series Beautiful Nightmare is the dark family album that I desire to find hidden in the basement, the dusty archive of mysterious people, the record of events long forgotten – perhaps intentionally. These tableaux are inspired by my waking and dreaming life, my fantasies and fears, the things I’ve seen out of the corner of my eye, the déjà-vues I’ve felt, and the stories I’ve allowed myself to play out.
This series is an ongoing project and has been photographed utilizing a variety of techniques involving various cameras and film of large and medium format. The film I photograph with is like my characters: varied, unusual, and questionable. Type55 is a favorite as inconsistency and imprecision are part of its intrinsic beauty. The negatives, often left to deteriorate with time and the elements, are then printed onto fiber-based paper and tea–toned. Sizes vary but they are kept small for an intimate feel.
Biography:
Matthew Yates was born in Long Beach, California, and lives and works in Tucson, Arizona. After studying photography at the Kansas City Art Institute and earning a BFA in Photography in 1997, he worked as a freelance photographer and assistant for various private and corporate entities, including Hallmark Cards Inc.
In 2005 he was selected for the Arizona Biennial, guest-curated by Siri Engberg of the Walker Art Center, Minneapolis. In the Summer of 2007 Matthew is granted an Artist Residency by MOCA [Tucson], and he is invited to exhibit and participate in PhotoEspaña, Madrid. Recently he was awarded Grand Prize and an Honorable Mention for the All Souls Procession / Day of the Dead Photo Competition, juried by Terry Etherton.
Matthew has exhibited his works in Portland, Oregon, Kansas City, Missouri, Tucson, Arizona, and Madrid, Spain. Matthew also launched fotovitamina – a team photography endeavor catering to a clientele with an artistic palate. Editorial and documentary in nature, fotovitamina is based on the photographers’ artistic visions. An exhbition in New York for the Tribeca Film Festival 2007, featured works by fotovitamina created for the Tucson Film Office [see the new Tucson Film Office Production Manual].
Upcoming projects include shows in Seattle and Milan, Italy.