He’s also one of the original founders of ANIMAL. When Matt and I first launched ANIMAL in 2003, we had no idea what the fuck we were doing, but it quickly became clear that graffiti was definitely going to play a role, as I began to realize his obsession with the outlaw art form. The office in the back of the East Village gallery space we worked out of was plastered with graffiti stickers and street art ephemera. He would bring in photo albums packed with images of tags, fill-ins, and throw-ups; murals and big legal productions had no place in Matt’s world. It was all about street bombing for him.
In addition to feverishly documenting graffiti, Matt was also busy creating art of his own using graffiti. Fast-forward ten years later and Matt is still collecting graffiti stickers and still making art. He’s no longer part of ANIMAL, but he is, oddly, teaching tennis alongside John McEnroe. We shot a short video of him in action both on the court and the streets.
You can see more of Matt’s art starting tonight at TriBeCa’s Gallery 69 for a group show that he also helped curate called “3 Pros.” It features his work along with two other tennis professionals who teach at the John McEnroe Tennis Academy on Randall’s Island.
(CamA/Edit: Aymann Ismail/ANIMALNewYork)
(CamB: Eugene Reznik/ANIMALNewYork)
