By Katarina Hybenova
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Twin Peaks. Space Oddity. Synth Magic. Odd Blood. The names of the paintings by Matthew Mahler document the journey you undertake when you take a dive into his work. References to the video games, encounters with aliens, rad 1990s TV shows, Native American motives… The visual language of Matthew Mahler is peculiarly odd, magical, and fascinating. Yet his works feel so familiar to someone who grew up in the ’90s, and was surrounded by the same pop culture and the common objects of fascination. Matthew Mahler says that it took him a long time to figure out how to create art that represents what he knows the best. He talks about his MFA break as the time when he was able to fully focus on his work and make a lot of progress in finding himself.
Matt has been a vital part of the Bushwick arts community. Last year, he and his buddy artist Jonathan Terranova opened a gallery located in the basement of a Ridgewood building. They named it Small Black Door after, well, its small black door. They have been putting up amazingly refreshing group art shows focusing on underrepresented artists from the Bushwick area.
Matthew is also one of the artists in Mushroom Universe, which is the second exhibition of the internet-based gallery BushwickGallery.com. You can catch up with him at the offline opening of the show this Friday at 950 Hart Gallery.
