Matthew Weinstein (born May 6, 1964 in New York City) is a noted and versatile contemporary American visual artist, installation sculptor and film maker.

Art

Matthew Weinstein's early works throughout the 1990s focused on

gestural abstraction Action painting, sometimes called "gestural abstraction", is a style of painting in which paint is spontaneously dribbled, splashed or smeared onto the canvas, rather than being carefully applied. The resulting work often emphasizes the physical a ...

cartoon A cartoon is a type of visual art that is typically drawn, frequently animated, in an unrealistic or semi-realistic style. The specific meaning has evolved over time, but the modern usage usually refers to either: an image or series of images ...

drawing, photographic-based imagery of ghostly images, and a fascination with blood, death, skulls and bones. Currently, Weinstein's primary medium is

3D animation Animation is a method by which still figures are manipulated to appear as moving images. In traditional animation, images are drawn or painted by hand on transparent celluloid sheets to be photographed and exhibited on film. Today, most anima ...

and

3D rendering 3D rendering is the 3D computer graphics process of converting 3D modeling, 3D models into 2D computer graphics, 2D images on a computer. 3D renders may include photorealistic rendering, photorealistic effects or non-photorealistic rendering, no ...

. Using the

3D modeling In 3D computer graphics, 3D modeling is the process of developing a mathematical coordinate-based representation of any surface of an object (inanimate or living) in three dimensions via specialized software by manipulating edges, vertices, an ...

and rendering program Maya, he creates videos of animated spectacles, involving actors, musicians and animators. He then creates paintings and sculptures using a wide variety of technologies, such as bronze casting,

rapid prototyping Rapid prototyping is a group of techniques used to quickly fabricate a scale model of a physical part or assembly using three-dimensional computer aided design (CAD) data. Construction of the part or assembly is usually done using 3D printin ...

sculpture, airbrush,

stenciling Stencilling produces an image or pattern on a surface, by applying pigment to a surface through an intermediate object, with designed holes in the intermediate object, to create a pattern or image on a surface, by allowing the pigment to reach ...

and resin casting. As Weinstein's cast of virtual singing characters expands, a

digital Digital usually refers to something using discrete digits, often binary digits. Technology and computing Hardware *Digital electronics, electronic circuits which operate using digital signals **Digital camera, which captures and stores digital i ...

repertory company begins to exist, with characters from one project appearing in another, or in a painting or a sculpture. Weinstein's

drawings and videos explore the often ambiguous line between reality and

unreality Derealization is an alteration in the perception of the external world, causing those with the condition to perceive it as unreal, distant, distorted or falsified. Other symptoms include feeling as if one's environment is lacking in spontaneity, ...

in an American culture that increasingly experiences reality through the filter of a virtual world. In contrast to the precision-like rendering of his constructed and sculptural compositions, the overall impact of this work is one of unreality, or rather "hyperclarity", in which reality and

merge, becoming indistinguishable. Drawing on a number of influences, most notably early

Japanese animation is hand-drawn and computer-generated animation originating from Japan. Outside of Japan and in English, ''anime'' refers specifically to animation produced in Japan. However, in Japan and in Japanese, (a term derived from a shortening ...

and the ancient

aesthetic Aesthetics, or esthetics, is a branch of philosophy that deals with the nature of beauty and taste, as well as the philosophy of art (its own area of philosophy that comes out of aesthetics). It examines aesthetic values, often expressed th ...

discipline of Ikebana

floral arrangement Floral design or flower arrangement is the art of using plant materials and flowers to create an eye-catching and balanced composition or display. Evidence of refined floristry is found as far back as the culture of ancient Egypt. Professionally ...

to futuristic science fiction, Weinstein sets up a balance between the real and the abstract as well as nature and artifice. For the animated video installation entitled "SIAM", a computer animation of a couple of Siamese fighting fish, Weinstein wrote both the music and choreographed the performance.

Life

Matthew Weinstein grew up in New York City with his father,

I. Bernard Weinstein I. Bernard Weinstein (September 9, 1930 – November 3, 2008) was an American physician and researcher who studied the effect of pollutants and other environmental factors in causing cancer and headed the Comprehensive Cancer Center at Columb ...

, who headed the Herbert Irving Comprehensive Cancer Center at Columbia University and has been credited with helping create the field of molecular epidemiology, and his mother, the former Joan Anker; and his sisters Claudia, of Manhattan, and Tamara, of Atlanta, Georgia.Obituary of I. Bernard Weinstein
Retrieved June 13, 2009. He received his Bachelor of Arts degree from Columbia University in 1987. Weinstein lives and works in New York. Weinstein's primary gallery is the Sonnabend Gallery in New York. He is also represented by the Baldwin Gallery in Aspen, Colorado and exhibits nationally and internationally. In 2004 alone, his work was the subject of a major installation at the

Pinakothek der Moderne The Pinakothek der Moderne (, '' Pinakothek of the Modern'') is a modern art museum, situated in central Munich's ''Kunstareal''. Locals sometimes refer to it as the ''Dritte'' ("third") ''Pinakothek'' after the Old and New. It is one of the world' ...

in Munich, Germany, and his films were projected in the

Kunsthalle A kunsthalle is a facility that mounts temporary art exhibitions, similar to an art gallery. It is distinct from an art museum by not having a permanent collection. In the German-speaking regions of Europe, ''Kunsthallen'' are often operated by ...

Vienna, Austria and screened at The Wexner Center for the Arts in

Columbus, Ohio Columbus () is the state capital and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Ohio. With a 2020 census population of 905,748, it is the 14th-most populous city in the U.S., the second-most populous city in the Midwest, after Chicago, and t ...

. Weinstein is the recipient of many awards, including a Wexner Center for the Arts grant.

Museum Collections

Weinstein's works of art are in private and public collections around the world, including the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, the

Nassau County Museum of Art The Nassau County Museum of Art (NCMA) is located east of New York City on the former Frick "Clayton" Estate, a property in Roslyn Harbor in the heart of Long Island’s Gold Coast. The main museum building, named in honor of art collectors a ...

in Roslyn, NY, the Sammlung Goetz and the Bayerische Staatsgemäldesammlungen in Munich, Germany.

References

External links

Mathew Weinstein’s home pageReview of 2006 exhibit at Sonnabend Gallery in Art in AmericaMatthew Weinstein at AskArt2014 ''Bomb Magazine'' interview of Matthew Weinstein by Laurie Simmons
{{DEFAULTSORT:Weinstein, Matthew 1964 births Living people 20th-century American painters American male painters 21st-century American painters 20th-century American sculptors 20th-century American male artists 21st-century American sculptors 21st-century American male artists American male sculptors American video artists Painters from New York City Sculptors from New York (state) American contemporary painters Columbia College (New York) alumni