Artist Interview: Matt Shlian

The Rathaus is proud to present an interview with previously featured Shout Out artist Matt Shlian. Topics include an explanation of Shlian’s artistic inspirations, the importance of “over-working” art, and a discussion of pop-up books.

I see the 2d work and the 3d work as different ways of exploring the same questions. I am interested in how forms can move in space, and how the folding and unfolding of forms/information is viewed/experienced. Louise Bourgeois once said, “If I am in a positive mood, I’m interested in joining. If I’m in a negative mood, I will cut things.” Some days I get into the studio and want to draw, other days I feel like working with paper.

The way in which you use digital models to inform your illustrations and sketches is very intriguing, this seems to be the inverse to most methods of modern design. Can you comment on the importance of digital technologies in your life?

I am intrigued by the “misuse” of technology. I find that when I try to use technology for its intended purpose I am often confronted with a series of mistakes or unexpected “errors.” I want to push these moments, when our digital technology goes awry, to a place where the error becomes interesting.

I use unfolding software to create fold patterns for objects that cannot and will not be refolded, and in the process of translating the 3d to 2d new information is found. I import found digital models and send them through various programs on the computer so the end model bears little resemblance to its former self. Victorian homes explode and warp in space and become deconstructed and reposition themselves as fragments of digital architecture. In some ways this is an extension of deconstructive architecture of the late 70s, plotter drawings of the early 80s, and hip hop and sampling methodologies of the mid-90s.

I was recently invited as an artist in residence at Siggraph in LA. The unofficial title we gave to the conference was Nerdfest 08 and I enjoyed seeing all the new emerging technologies. One booth was displaying a game called “Crysis.” I’m a bit out of the video game loop but this thing was unbelievable…swaying palm trees and grass, realistic water. It was this virtual beach and the guy demonstrating kept moving the character around the landscape using some keyboard shortcuts. He’d run around on a mountain then teleport to the beach and run in the water. It was unreal. Then at one point he went to move the character to another location and he must have input the wrong code or clicked the wrong button because the player was transported about one hundred feet into the air and started having what looked like a seizure. The man was flailing like he was falling very fast, only the character wasn’t moving toward the ground. The camera slowly panned back and this man was levitating rather uncomfortably in paradise. Then the game froze and all that was moving was the man in the sky. It was at that moment I became really interested in this game.

I often recall a quote that goes something along the lines of, “It’s more important to render visible than to render the visible.” Would you say your work subscribes to this thought by adding a human touch to digitally derived sequences, concepts, and forms?

I suppose I would. Sometimes I feel like my role of artist isn’t to involve my hand at all but to choose in editing and presenting my findings. I am not interested in making work that points to a specific reference or literal reading. Art for me isn’t a battle of who can draw or paint in the most realistic style. I like the Jerry Saltz definition of art being “thought embedded into materials.” I remember being in undergrad and being told that I wasn’t a great artist or “art-maker,” but I had a talent at knowing how to set up circumstances for good things to happen.

You say that you often begin your paper engineering projects without a goal in mind and simply build off of the first fold indeterminately. Many designers struggle with knowing when to call it quits on a project and sometimes over-develop concepts that were once clean and simple. How do you know when you have finished a work? Does the folding come 360 at some point? Are there limits that you set for yourself midway through a project as opposed to at the beginning?

I am the king of overworking things!! I subscribe to the idea of pushing work far past its point of collapse, because I need to know where to draw the line the next time I make it. It is an unreasonable practice, but it’s how I generate my best work. I always try to take the long way. Generally I set guidelines at the start of making a piece and try to stick to them. If a piece needs a lot of additional ramifications along the way then I know something needs to be rethought out from the start. But this is the best part…when the work starts telling me something I didn’t know already, or couldn’t foresee without having made it. Maybe it tells me what my next piece needs to include or what I got wrong in previous work. I like the idea of a dialogue with materials rather than me dictating what should or should not happen.

What tools do you use to create your paper sculptures?

I use acid free, archival paper, (10 pt and 100lb text weight stock), Tyvek, frosted mylar, PVA glue, bone folders, x-acto knives, creasing tools, AutoCAD R13 and a Graphtec fc4200-50 flatbed plotter cutter.

How time consuming is the creation of your paper sculptures?

I spent 4 years in undergrad, 2 years in grad school, 3 years in the industry, and have been teaching since 2006. I try to spend every day in the studio working on something. My work consumes my life (in a good way).

Who do you reference when looking for inspiration?

I draw inspiration from musicians, performers, writers, artists, producers… Folks like Brian Eno, Matthew Goulish and Goat Island, Lothar Meggendorfer, Vojtech Kubasta, El-P, Daniel Libeskind, Dondi White, Christian Marclay, Ren Weschler, Buckminster Fuller, George Hrycun, Stephan Sagmeister, Edward R. Tufte, etc.

If you were going to buy a pop-up book as a gift for a child what would it be? Similarly, what would you recommend for an adult?

All the pop up work coming out of the Sabuda, Reinhardt, and Olmon camp is stellar. Those are the paper engineering kings of today. I’m headed to Pratt to give a talk in February and can’t wait to meet the whole posse. You have to check out the Star Wars pop up that Matthew Reinhardt put out- it blew me away…I’ve been a fan since his pop up book of Phobias. The best part is kids and adults are into them. Might I also suggest my own book. It’s not a pop up, but does have pleated pages for you to fold up and a collapsible structure that’s included.

Buy Shlian’s aforementioned “Ghost Town” here.
See more of Shilan’s work here.