Matt Greco
Matt Greco is an artist and educator living and working in Brooklyn NY. He received his BFA from Armstrong Atlantic University and his MFA from Queens College CUNY. He is an Assistant Professor of Photography & Imaging at Queens College CUNY and Co-founder and Director of The Klapper Digital Imaging Laboratory there. His work has been exhibited domestically and internationally including The Museum of Art & Design (NY), The Telfair Museum of Art (GA), Apexart (NY), The Dorsky Gallery (NY), The NY Studio Gallery (NY), Gallery 126 (Ireland), The Beacon Gallery (CA), and The Baron Gallery (OH). Greco's work varies in subject and medium and of late has explored the innovative ways people problem solve in their everyday lives. Along with artist Chris Esposito he is theo ther half of the artist collaboration Damfino.
It is difficult to state what I do as an artist. Perhaps that is because what I do as an artist varies so much from day to day, year to year. Like many contemporary artists, I don’t pull inspiration from any one place, or even half a dozen places, at any given time. Influence, inspiration, interest, obsession, experience; they seem to come at me from all directions all the time and I use what they leave me with to make my work. Often it is academic; sometimes I respond intellectually in my work to politics or cultural issues. Often it is emotional; personal experiences drive me to make work, although this work is rarely obvious, those personal emotional responses tend to obfuscate themselves. But I can say a few things with certainty: I am a student of human behavior, I can’t stop watching people; what they do, how they act, what they wear, and how they hold themselves. I fancy myself an amateur scientist, I am constantly amazed at how things work the complexity of systems, the elegance in the universe, and the interactions between invisible forces. I like to build with my hands, there is something very familiar and comfortable in making. The preparation, the hard work, and the tactility of materials all speak to an amazement of the working of the world. Ultimately the way that these all synthesize to create memory and the effect that has on how we celebrate and memorialize our shared history is at the center of my work.