Matt Bodett received his MFA from Boise State University in 2011, and taught printmaking there until he moved to Chicago in 2013. Since moving to Chicago he has played an active role in disability advocacy and utilizing artwork to open dialogue around madness. As a visual artist, poet, and performance artist Matt has had opportunities to share his work at many venues throughout the Chicago including Steppenwolf Theatre, Victory Gardens Theater, The Poetry Foundation, Intuit: the Center for Intuitive and Outsider Art, Evanston Art Center, Gallery 400, and many other locations. His printmaking has been featured in the 3rd Global Print exhibition and the 9th Douro Biennial in Douro, Portugal, as well as print exhibitions in Tehran, Iran; Milan, Italy; and Oslo, Norway. Matt teaches at Loyola University Chicago, Columbia College Chicago, and is on the advisory board for the Institute for Therapy Through the Arts based in Evanston, IL.
Matt's work directly responds to his lived expereinces with madness. Being given a dianosis of schizo-affective disorder in 2005, he has spent his career attmpeting to understand his own mind, the social implications of madness, and the historical underpinnings. His artwork continues to evolve and pulls references from Western Art history in an attempt to connect the ideals of western society to the problematic nature of how we interact with contemporary madness.
Installation image of "Such Fool" at the exhibition, "Of Exceptions" at Artruss Gallery in the Fall of 2023
Featured Artworks
Such Fool
Oil, acrylic, pastel, graphite, and crayon on canvas. 96 x 132 inches.
I know More than Apollo
22 x 15 inches. Etching, collage, graphite, and crayon on paper
Installation view of "Such Fool"
Fool
Trace Monotype, oil, and oil pastel on paper. 24.5 x 20inches
help.
Oil, acrylic, graphite, and pastel on canvas. 94 x 58 inches
From the performance "is: si ng"
Protect
Oil, stabile pencil, and oil stick on clay board. 24 x 18 inches
Like/is seems
Charcoal and pastel on paper. 45 x 29 inches
Unoriginal
Oil, stabile pencil, and oil pastel on clay board. 24 x 18 inches.
Mad Seems Fails
about wayss
Oil on clayboard. 48 x 72 inches
With Lunatics
Oil, graphite, oil pastel, and stabillo pencil on clayboard48 x 36 inches.
Matt Bodett has crowd-funded a project with 3AP
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- $5,047 raised of $5,000 goal
- 0 Days 0:00:00 LEFT
My project, we are, we are, seeks to change the conversation we have about mental health. Since having been diagnosed with schizo-affective disorder myself, in 2005, this project is both personal and deeply needed socially. Too often people with mental …
Read more about we are, we are -
- $6,745 raised of $6,000 goal
- 0 Days 0:00:00 LEFT
Oak Leaves represents my most ambitious work to date, painting a replica of the Sistine Chapel ceiling. This idea and project are monumental in scale, so I plan to begin by focusing on two iconic figures, The Libyan and Cumaean …
Read more about Oak Leaves