In conjunction with our both being in Andy Adams’s Looking At The Land exhibition I interviewed my fellow Greenpoint resident and talented photographer Matthew Schenning.
Being from Baltimore, do you just hate it when people ask
you about the Wire? And is it a tad sad that people don’t ask about John Waters
as much?
You know, pre-Wire the only
thing people knew about Baltimore, and what I was always asked about, was John
Waters’ portrayal of Baltimore. I love and embrace both sides of that coin
because they are both really accurate.
The one reason that I would rather people ask about the Wire is that it
brings up a lot of different social issues that probably afflict every major
city in the US. They are issues that everyone needs to be talking about.
During undergrad I took a class
that focused on the films of Woody Allan and I’m sure there must be a films of
John Waters class somewhere. But
what I really hope is that someone is teaching The Wire.
Follow up, being an art kid from Baltimore, does that mean
you are also into Hardcore and once lived in an unfinished loft space?
When I was growing up, there
wasn’t the loft scene that there is now in Baltimore. There were a couple of
people that lived in these warehouse spaces and threw parties, but that was
more of a graffiti and hip-hop scene. That’s what I was into at the time.
Back then nobody stayed in
Baltimore, especially if you were an art kid. There was just nothing there for
you, so as soon as you could you just got out and moved to New York. Now people
are staying and the kids that are going to MICA are making a place for
themselves. Now there is a huge music scene. It just took a critical mass of
people that were willing to stay and that didn’t happen until after I
left.
What is your first memory of a photograph and or
photography?
My grandmother and her Polaroid
camera. I actually have a tattoo
of a blank Polaroid in her honor.
She always had her camera with her at every family event, taking
pictures of everyone and everything.
When I was first introduced to your work when writing the
catalogue essay for If This Is It,
the work, as best I can remember, especially from Beyond This Point, felt like a very concise, clear and critical
portrayal of tourist landscapes. The work now is infused with backs of heads,
polaroids, and install pictures of sculptures. Why the shift? Have I just been
missing the point of your work?
When you first saw the work it
was edited down to just the tourist landscape aspect for the purposes of the
exhibition. I am really interested in our interaction with landscape and our
surroundings, and I wanted to use the tourist work as a straightforward way to
contextualize those ideas. But my idea for Beyond This Point has always been to
try and portray the subtleties and complexity of our relationship with our
surroundings in a way that is more than just one note. I like to keep it loose.
It seems like nowadays in the photography world, as opposed
to, say, the 90’s, the way work is organized by artist seems very open and
organic, thoughts? And how much of that is owed to Roe Ethridge being awesome?
I still see plenty of
Becher-esque typological work, which drives me crazy, but thankfully more
photographers are back to feeling they can make work that is not like that. Roe
Ethridge is certainly a huge part of that. It’s less about a specific project
and more about a collection of images that you have to try to make sense
of. It’s great that we can
organize work in a way that might not make sense at first. We can create narratives that more
closely resemble the complicated nature of the world we live in. It allows for
a freedom in working and thinking that ultimately pushes the work forward.
Where haven’t you been that you’d like to go?
Everywhere. I really want to go to Antarctica.
Suburban Renewal
seems to have some very pointed opinions about the current state of things
economically, e.g., lots of suburban developments combined with collapsing
neighborhoods. How interested are you in trying to address current events?
I’m not sure what could be more
important. The reality of that body of work is that it’s infused with a lot of
my own personal history and there is quite a bit of the past in there with the
present. Suburban Renewal was almost all shot in Baltimore, within a few miles
of where I grew up. As the title alludes, the suburbs are not immune to the
problems of the city and I am trying to make some connections between the past
and current events.
Do you feel any pressure as a photographer who at times has
made very straightforward photographs to be more avant-garde and make work that
breaks with the history of the medium?
Of course. Photography still has a chip on its shoulder
in terms of the art world, and I think that has increased with the explosion of
digital photography. The fact is that anyone can take a good picture now, and
all they need is their phone. It’s only natural to feel pressure to make work
that is more avant-garde although I don’t think it’s possible to make work that
breaks with the history of the medium. It’s funny to think that as photography moves
further and further into the digital realm, making work with a large format
film camera is almost avant-garde.
For me, both sides are really
important. I love straightforward photographs and I love photographs that push
the boundaries of the medium. The challenge is to figure out how to combine the
two ends of the spectrum in a way that makes sense. And in my case throw in a
bit of sculpture too.
As a gallery employee, how much do you find Gallery Girls an
accurate portrayal of your day-to-day life? And is Alex Gingrow’s work the best
thing ever (http://www.mikeweissgallery.com/html/artistresults.asp?artist=147)?
I haven’t actually seen Gallery
Girls. Does some one on that show like
that work?
Seems not much of your work is made in Brooklyn or at least
its not recognizable as such. How much of a part does traveling play in your
making work?
I do travel a lot and I’m always
toting my 4x5 camera and tripod around. In a lot of ways it’s easier to make
work in a new place but you have to be careful not to end up making tourist
pictures. I can go through patches
where I don’t make much work in Brooklyn but I always come back to it. So much work has been made in New York
and Brooklyn that it’s important for me, when I do make work here, I try to
make work that isn’t obviously from here. In both cases it’s really easy to
slip into cliché and I have to stop myself from making a picture now and then.
OTT or Thai Café?
Ha ha. Erb.
Anything coming up artwise?
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