Interview: MWM Graphics

Hi Matt,
How are you? Can you tell us something about yourself? What did you do today?
Hi guys. Things are going great here. Staying very busy this month with freelance design and illustration. A bunch of exciting projects across disciplines. Fashion, footwear, cars, music. It is great to bounce around with new styles for different projects. Today was a studio day, and it is 12:30 am now, so it’s a studio night too.

How would you describe your own work?
Wow, it is tough to summarize because I try to keep momentum with so many different disciplines and techniques. Some stuff is very fluffy, abstract art. Other stuff is very calculated, representational design. If I had to throw a blanket over all that I do, I would say “scrambled-stylized-symbolism-syntax”. Oh, and “with a hint of geometry and hypercolor”.

What are your biggest influences?
So many? Music, Math, MC Escher, High Fashion, Hiphop, Nature, Architecture, Simplicity, Complexity, History, Travel, and of course, Family.

How did you come up with the Black & White Bangers series?
I needed a 100% personal artwork outlet. Not for clients, away from the computer. A way for me to keep my handmade art momentum going. Much of my commercial work is vector? The must surgically clean and precise form of design. I wanted to create a project for me, where there are no rules and I can get sloppy with wet paint and try new techniques. I began the series in 2005, and I have promised to continue for life. A new Volume every winter. Always monochrome. Always analog.

How is the latest nr.4 different with the first 3?
MWM B:4 is very different from B:1 and B:2. The first two series were only Sharpie marker, no watercolor paint. For B:3 I tried this new style of many layers of wet paint, getting more refined with each layer and very bold highlights. I had so much fun with the new process last year, I decided to continue exploring with it this winter. All of the images and narrative are new, but the technique is very similar to B:3. I was living in Vermont this past winter and traveling often to NYC and Boston, so there is definitely a juxtaposition of nature and city going on with the visual narrative.

What other projects have you got coming up?
So much great stuff going on, I have another book dropping in May “MWM: Vectorfunk” published by ROJO, and we are having a solo-show of my work for the book release. The show is called “MWM: 20/20” and will be in Barcelona 5.13-5.30 at the ROJO Artspace. I also have another solo-show coming up in November at Threadless Chicago. I am super excited for both exhibitions. It is such a great motivation to keep working like crazy when there are big shows coming up. I will be doing a lot of traveling this summer, and I plan to do a bunch of mega-murals in the cities I visit. Lots more stuff too. Check my blog for recent news – http://www.mwmgraphics.blogspot.com

Thanks and good luck!
Thank you Fontanel crew. You guys rock! Keep up the great work.

MATT W. MOORE
Boston, Massachusetts USA
mwmgraphics.com

En je kunt de hele serie hier bestellen.