Part 2 - Space - Artists need space, time, and money

Matthew Dols (artist, professor, and podcaster) reflects on the needs for Space in both a physical sense (studio / atelier space) and mental space from the concerns of everyday life. Creative people need Space to decompress from the stresses of life in order to be able to be present with their creative endeavour.
Matthew Dols has been exhibited internationally in museums and galleries, and is in the collections of the New York Metropolitan Museum of Art, Crown Point Press, the al Serkal Foundation, and the deYoung Museum’s Auchenbach Collection, among others. My work has been widely published including F-Stop Magazine, Entertainment Weekly, US News and World Reports, Billboard Magazine, and The Washington Post Magazine.
I have received an EEA and Norway Grant and a Research Incentive Fund Grant for my artwork and as an Arts Podcaster, I have given workshops at Photoworld Dubai, Gulf Photo Plus, Maraya Art Center, University of North Carolina At Wilmington, and participated in a residency at No Boundaries Artist Colony.
I am currently a Professor of Photography at the University of Maryland Global Campus, and host and creator of the Art podcast, The Wise Fool. I received an MFA in New Genres Arts from the San Francisco Art Institute, and a BFA in Photography from the Corcoran School of Art and Design in Washington DC. I also do portfolio reviews online for LensCulture.com.
Over the years, I have worked in museums, galleries, universities, stock photography agencies, as a photojournalist, picture framer, art critic, director of a community darkroom, a waiter, a roadie. I studied with artists and photographers, massage therapists, chefs, reflexologists, Native American shamans, and was a mentor/judge on “I am Nat Geo Photographer” Arabic TV show. In 2003 I founded the ongoing affordable art fair Art for the Masses, and in 2004 created a public sculpture program Pedestrian Art, both in Wilmington, NC.
matthewdols.com
/ matthewdols

[@TheOneTheyCallTim]

Space is time and time is space.

[@RexWaymire]

who are the top contemporary artists about putting their "hearts on their sleeves?"

[@photomatthew]

That is a very subjective question, and difficult for me to answer because when I recorded that I was thinking about Sally Mann and her work about her ailing husband - www.sallymann.com/proud-flesh
and Rachel Cox's work about her experience of IVF - www.rachelcoxphotography.com/11517901-works-in-progress
For me it is when an artist is very vulnerable with the reality of their life and finding a way to depict it directly in their work. It is not very common (which makes it special when it happens) because most artists use allegory, mythology, and metaphors in there work in order not to be too vulnerable. (I do it too)
does that answer your question?

[@davidseverin7764]

what's up with that canvas or paper? it looks all cut up or bent up. it's interesting. obviously, it's intentional.

[@photomatthew]

The work are my photographs that are printed on watercolor paper (Epson Hot press or Rives BFK) and I have folded the paper because a fold in paper is a scaring process. It cannot be removed once it has been put in, metaphorically much like the life experiences and baggage that we all have which intersect and overlap with other life experiences. This is what I an intending to express with the folded aspect of the paper. The multitude of layered experiences, choices, decisions, etc that combine to weave our own personal tapestry.

[@davidseverin7764]

@@photomatthew WOW...that is awesome. I really like the aesthetic of it. and to express a deeper meaning behind it is REALLY admirable! ...I'm an aspiring arist myself. thanks for your detailed reply. you inspire me. subbed.

[@alpotap]

Is this tbe same painting for the past 2 weeks?

[@photomatthew]

Yes, it is me continuing to work on the same pieces. Some of them can take me a month or longer to complete so you are seeing the progressive layers of paint, texture, sanding, gold, etc. I am working on 10 or 12 pieces simultaneously and they will get to completion at different times depending on their scale and complexity. You can see the completed pieces on my instagram feed: instagram.com/matthewdols/