Twice Conquered

2008

Concrete, Bondo

3 x 20 x 30 inches

Knocking skate-stoppers off ledges, cutting the kinks off handrails, or putting Bondo in the cracks of sidewalks are all ways skaters alter a given area to make it function in their best interests. Twice Conquered is a point of entry into looking at the practice of manipulating the urban environment to better suit one’s needs. Form follows function in the minimal sculpture. A pink flesh-like “Bondo band-aid” spans a disruptive crack in the near pristine surface of a concrete slab revealing the artist’s hand. The thoughtfully applied Bondo is demonstrative of the skaters’ dedication, who are willing to assume the role of “guerilla mason” in order to mend cracks in urban spaces the most worthy of reclaiming. Browning associates these little tweaks to our surroundings in the city to those of a builder or farmer who manipulates a piece of nature for personal—or public—gain. In this way Twice Conquered conquers anew, restoring small areas of the urban landscape back to an ideal state for skaters.

Trophy Trophy

2008

Leather from baseballs, acrylic glue

21 x 16 inches

The idea for Trophy Trophy came while Browning was taking apart baseballs and began thinking about all of the skin and flesh that went into covering them. The pelts from skinned animals have long been used as a way of immortalizing a hunting accomplishment. Similarly, baseballs also serve in this capacity as trophies for a game. Players are awarded the ball with which they hit their Xth number home run or pitched their Xth number strikeout. Trophy Trophy combines two trophies from two separate male activities into one by breaking the skins of baseballs into squares and building them back up into a digitized animal pelt form.  Its final figuration references a symbol that spans generations of masculine ritual from animal pelts to hieroglyphics to characters from early Atari-era video games.

The Things We Did? It Wasn't So Much The Thing, As It Was That We Did 'Em

2008

Cedar, metal, glue

43 x 12 x 14 inches

These same lines of inquiry are found in The Things We Did? It Wasn’t So Much The Thing, As It Was That We Did ‘Em. Here, like in He Who Dies With The Most, Browning takes cue from cultural tribes native to this region and creates a utilitarian artwork. The dual-purpose device’s function is to puncture holes in the side of beer cans, essentially becoming a convenience tool for shotgunning. Created from weathered cedar fence boards, the sculpture references the backyard and camping trip locales in the Northwest where this behavior typically takes place. The irony of The Things We Did? It Wasn’t So Much The Thing, As It Was That We Did ‘Em, as suggested by its title, is that a utilitarian tool of this nature is virtually unnecessary. Its scale makes its mobility cumbersome and counter to the impromptu nature of shotgunning where people can pull their keys out of their pocket wherever they are, poke a hole in their beer can and drink—or shotgun—it in less than half a minute. The Things We Did? therefore becomes a utilitarian relic, and homage to an adolescent activity that while not very important, is a signifier of communal exchange.

Home Field Advantage (installation view), 2008

Crawl Space Gallery, Seattle

“Crawl Space is pleased to present HOME FIELD ADVANTAGE, an exhibition of new sculptural works by member artist Matt Browning. For his first solo exhibition at the gallery, Browning probes the intersections between personal/shared experience, masculine ritual, and the state of male identity. Working with at-hand materials and sporting goods as media, the artist draws from his experiences as witness to and participant in a lifetime of masculine escapades.

“Men seek to carve out identity and acceptance by climbing the tallest tree in youth, establishing athletic prowess in adolescence, or winning reckless drinking competitions in young adulthood. There is beauty and absurdity in this behavior, and my work speaks to both.” --Crawl Space Press Release