Matt Hopson-Walker

Jason’s Mask
lithography
8.75 x 6.75 in.

My work embraces two different visual sources, the first being drawing, the second being collage. Pop culture is also elemental to my image making; most of my early visual inspirations have been gleaned from a childhood of television. As I have grown into an adult, my understanding of the complexities of adult social interaction has developed through my experience of cartoons and animated movies. This has influenced my perception of my environment as well as my understanding of others and myself as concrete human beings.

The prints are a satire of personal experience and social interaction. I use narration as a device to examine elements of my own human nature, as away to look at the contradictions inherent within emotions and actions. My personal observations help me to create ambiguous stories that I associate with fairytales and parables. When the rigors of exceptional circumstance become a metaphor for the trials of a normal life peppered with mediocrity, hardship, failure, and success.

I am interested recording/documenting a time/place but also creating a surface with printmaking techniques that relates metaphorically to the function of memory and the distress that occurs over time. For me the covering/revealing and how it relates to consumer goods to generate an image is important to how we experience images. The packaging refers to children’s fun books, collectables (game cards, comics, and stamps) and requires participation and handling by the viewer.

© Matt Hopson-Walker