Artist Statement
My work is the study of a life being lived. The basic building blocks of most of my works are still lifes created out of the organic state of someone living within their own space. From these still lifes, I branch in two directions, one is studies of patterns within these still lifes. This leads to more abstract pieces of one's life and what the repetition of daily life can feel like visually translated. The second direction is studies of those who inhabit these spaces and how they organically create these still lifes. Simply put they are photos of people just existing within their own space. Once I have built this narrative of how my subject exists within their own boundaries, I develop a stronger fine art aspect to my work. At the root, my subject matter is inherently documentary-based, but I strive to blend this form of photography with fine art photography. I find I best achieve this when I take the subject and begin to direct their poses and the setup of the space. I do this as a way of building from the real narrative at hand to create my own in a sense. The narratives constructed through these images are supposed to lead the viewer in a more specific direction rather than allowing them to have an open interpretation at hand. Along with my own direction of the photograph, I title my works in a specific manner. The titles act as the starting point for the viewer's predetermined path for how the work is meant to be interrupted. Editing my work into black and white is the strongest way to bring in the sense that the work is a memory. The viewer interpreting these pieces as memories is a key part of my overall narrative building. I make work that looks like glimpses of a life being lived.
Matty Palamara
Fine Artist
Matty is a fine artist specializing in photography, prominently digital with some exploration of alternative processes and polaroids. They are working towards a more integrated practice by diving into painting and mixed media pieces. Matty graduated from Radford University with a BS in Studio Art and a minor in biology. Currently, they are in their first semester at Iowa State University pursuing an MFA in Integrated Visual Arts. Matty has exhibited their work in Virginia, Colorado, Oregon, California, and Iowa. In their free time, Matty enjoys exploring coffee shops as they have a pretty intense love affair with lavender oat milk lattes and iced americanos. You may also find them exploring local music scenes and going to concerts for bands they have only heard one song from.
Origin Story
To be completely honest, I can not exactly say when I decided to be an artist. More than anything I believe life has been telling me non-stop that this is what I was meant to do and I just completely missed every sign until I was in my last year of undergrad. There was the first time I picked up a camera, that was a pretty clear feeling and a sign from the universe that nine-year-old me was not prepared to accept. There was also the intense obsession I had with fine art and editorial photography that consumed my every thought in high school. That was a rather glaring sign that I needed to make photography the focal point of my future. Nope, I decided nursing was what I needed to do in college, which lasted two weeks. Even after becoming a double major in art and biology, I was still unsure about my future as an artist. I think what finally brought it all together and made it click for me was in my junior year, I went through a pretty intense depression after my semester aboard. I believe this depression came from the feeling of being inauthentic, while I was aboard I had a fresh start and felt like the friends I made there got to be friends with the most genuine side of myself. When I returned to school I lost that feeling and felt like I had to climb back into a mold I did not fit anymore. After wading through this depression for a couple of weeks, unprompted and with no real catalyst that day I called my mom, and told her I was dropping biology to a minor and was going to spend my last three semesters focusing on my art. By the end of my first semester as a full-blown art major, I knew I wanted to pursue my MFA. I discussed this with my professors at the time and was met with a great deal of encouragement. I took a year off from school, mainly because of covid, and then applied to my first round of MFA programs, as a photographer I submitted an entire painting portfolio to every school, along with almost no proofreading of my applications. I was rejected across the board, shocker, I know. However, I needed this, I needed my determination in this future to be challenged to ensure I felt as passionate about being an artist as I believe I did. I definitely did. I guess my origin story is more of a series of events, and who knows, maybe there is more development in it to come.