Biography of Matthew Brannon
The iconic work of Matthew Brannon (b.1971, USA) is inspired by vintage posters and advertisements from the 1940s and 50s. Ordinary objects such as bottles, cigarettes, household plants and kitchen knives are rendered elegantly in retro pictogram vocabulary. However, by juxtaposing the instantly identifiable advertising-esque images with fragments of unexpected texts, Brannon raises important questions about urban consumer culture. Underlying feelings of irony, anxiety, and boredom—staples of modern metropolitan society—are all brought to the forefront in his drily witty and yet sombering observations.
Matthew Brannon began to produce silkscreens and letterpress works in the late 1990s, and since then the medium has become the core of his artistic development and expression. By weaving handwritten phrases in with clean silhouettes of objects, his works are at the same time originals and replicas. They explore the disjunction between language and fact, as well as the individual and the mass.
Matthew Brannon has featured in major exhibitions across the globe, including at the Serpentine Gallery and the Saatchi Gallery in London; the Whitney, the Aspen Art Museum and the Denver Art Museum in the USA; the Songzhuan Art Gallery in China and the Hermitage Museum in Russia.
