image via MattGoad.net

 As a kid in the mid-70’s, Matt Goad can remember flipping through books and marveling at Lichtenstein pop art pieces. The thought of large-scale paintings reminiscent of comic books was an attractive one. Couple that with a Chagall print hung near Matt’s desk by an influential 4^th grade teacher and you have the starting point for a journey driven by an interest in pop and modern art.  As Matt puts it “Picasso is the Beatles”.

Matt studied graphic design at Oklahoma Christian, where his early involvement in the fine arts came by means of wood cut printing, reeling off hundreds of wood cuts in a 2-3 year span.  That, however, abruptly ended when he got a job doing illustrations. Matt figures he completed an illustration a month for about 20 years, and it effectively ended his fine art career. Or did it?  It is only recently that Matt has begun painting on canvas. As he describes it, he was at a meeting about 5 years ago with his client at the time, Clint Stone, who was the artistic director of the City Arts Center. Clint saw his paintings and in no uncertain terms told Matt that he was going to be exhibiting in their next show. So Matt’s next chapter in fine arts began.

Matt is not apologetic about his obvious graphic artist and illustrator inspirations; Jim Flora, Charley Harper, Alex Steinweiss, Paul Rand and Saul Bass.

images via Dummy Mag, graphichug, The Boston Globe, Christian Annyas 

Not a bad group to be inspired by. He instead chooses to adapt and learn from techniques of those who inspire him while infusing his work with a concept or narrative of his own.

Matt states that “lizards and snakes were my life” and cites his childhood in the Arizona desert and the “marvel of nature” as influences, believing that nature can far outpace his own imagination.

image via MattGoad.net

 Matt’s original paintings were done with palette knives and brushes; lacking the crispiness he was accustomed to with screen and wood cut printing, he created a style of painting using tape and stencils to create a finished piece that resembled something more controlled.

Matt describes himself as a “Horrible Artist”, explaining that he “lacks the spontaneity of other artists”, and has to purposely “design his art”, often times going through 10 or more thumbnails on a piece before he gets it the way he wants it.  I would argue that there is no wrong or right process to art and what he does falls in line with my own understanding of making art.

In the process of talking with Matt for this piece, it quickly became clear that I had been exposed to his journey a lot early than I knew. My initial version of the story would have mentioned that I first encountered his work when a mysterious image of bigfoot showed up at Dwelling Spaces quite some time ago.

image via MattGoad.net

I was enamored by its simplicity and geometry. It spoke to my tendency to like all things that had an illustrative aesthetic to it.  In reality, I was exposed to Matt’s work years ago in many different ways – either as the art work for several Starlight Mint’s albums (he was a member of the band in the late 1990’s), or in an incredible gig poster for an Aqueduct/ Starlight Mints show.

image via MattGoad.net

More recently I was able to attend Matt’s first solo show at Dwelling Spaces. Entitled NATURE.GEOMETRY.LOVE.THE ARTWORK OF MATT GOAD, the show was a perfect example of his nature influence while injecting a Matt Goad story into each piece.

image via MattGoad.net

At the end of the night my wife and I walked away with a piece entitled “Porcupine Love”; a story, to us, of forbidden or unattainable love in the desolation of the desert between a porcupine and a Saguaro cactus. The technique and geometry was right on and the story pushed it over the top.  We love our “Horrible Art”.

image via MattGoad.net

 More recently, you might have seen Matt’s work in This Land Press, and for the future Matt is working on some pieces inspired by outer-space.  He is also working with the Oklahoma City Museum of Science on some upcoming exhibitions.