Matthew's collages have a wonderful retro quality to them, I love the faded images of the materials he uses. Everything he creates has such an interesting shape, I have a feeling he never lets any scrap of paper go to waste!
Name (Real or Screename): Matthew Partridge
URL (Blog, Website): www.flickr.com/mattyptown78
Location (Where are you from?): Buffalo > Pittsburgh > Norfolk > Boston > Parts Unknown
Q: Describe your work in 10 words or less.
A: Vintage Inspired Cut 'n Paste.
Q: What do you like to work with (magazines, photographs, vintage)? Be specific!
A: Old print material, sometimes found, but mostly accumulated during (one too many) visits to thrift stores, flea markets and trash heaps over the past decade. Recently, I've been trying to work with more contemporary reference material, but I'm usually drawn to the color and composition of older advertising. I've also attempted to incorporate things like colored pencil and watercolor into my work, but the results haven't been very fruitful. In a way, I like limiting my options to just paper and a simple glue stick. Often, just a single magazine page (chosen at random), to see what I can come up with... and then working from the leftover scraps as well.
Q: How long have you been creating collages and what made you start?
A: It's always been a technique I've enjoyed experimenting with (as early as grade school). Never made any consistent strides with it until about 7 or 8 years ago, when I was trying to establish a "branding" for a branch of the non-profit organization I work for. Those pieces were much darker in tone than my recent work. Those pieces (seen on the flickr site) came about, when 2 of my sisters decided to come visit me in Boston. Neither of them had crossed the threshold into digital media (mp3s) at that point, and I wanted to make them a few cd-r compilations to listen to on their drive in. Had a few old folders worth of reference material, and figured I'd try a collage approach for the packaging.
The scraps from those projects led to a few independent collages. One thing led to another... I put a few of them on flickr (which seemed to get a nice response) and I've been making new ones since (albeit very sporadically). Was distracted by all the nice weather this summer, so I haven't posted anything new in awhile, but now that the snow is falling again, I should have some new stuff to share soon.
Q: Are you solely an artist, or do you work in another profession?
A: This coming December, I'll have been a graphic designer for peta (the animal rights folks) for ten years.
Q: Do you have any formal art training?
A: I studied graphic design for 2+ years, at the Art Institute of Pittsburgh in the late 90's. Those schools tend to get a bad wrap, but I enjoyed (and benefitted from) my experience there.
Q: Explain your favourite techniques.
A: Rip/Cut/Sort/Arrange/Rearrange/Paste/Scan/Repeat.
Q: Describe your favourite piece ever created.
A: I thought the series of pieces I did with elements from a 1976 olympic retrospective worked well, specifically the one titled "inter-office fencing". Nice muted colors, and not as cluttered as some others. Plus, you can never argue with woodgrain.
Q: What other artists do you admire?
A: My contemporary influences are mainly friends. Andy "Hucklebuck" Hayes, Dave Mizelle, PJ Chmiel, David Klug (Colossus), Rod Hunting (Post Family), and Brandon Peck (Loose Limbs). Or anyone who sees more in my work than "those look like states!". As for other collage-ists who also share their work on flickr, I'm a big admirer of...
watersounds,
luisdrayton,
alejandro.chavetta,
jennyleefowler,
kressentpottenger,
no117,
hahahazen,
littleblackbooks,
huanita,
cahilmuraghu,
brandonmclean,
seanballdesign,
brandi strickland,
slugma,
veronicajenn,
a547555,
woefoep,
and countless others.
Thanks Matthew!
![](http://www.notpaper.net/images/masters1.JPG")
I love this!! Matthew is very talented. I sat here for a while trying to figure out what states of America these were... haha Interesting shapes.