My practice is primarily concerned with how works of art make society appear to be more creative and free than it actually is. As an artist, I am interested in how art has been instrumental in making the prevailing mode of production, consumption, communication, and administration more palatable. To me, artistic forms have become decor not just in an architectural sense, but in an ideological one as well. In the same way that art can make a barren space appear more attractive, it can also make a monotonous society look more intriguing. Drawing from formal metaphors and historical precedents, I attempt to point out how art serves the dominant order of things by championing the sentiments many yearn for in the context of daily life. In making art, I seek to illuminate its ability to make certain thoughts visible and permissible. However, this permissibility may only be because these thoughts and sentiments are presenting themselves as art. As an artist, it is important to me that there is a degree of transparency regarding how visual art operates. It is for this reason that much of my work deals with the process of production and how a healthy balance between clarity and obscurity can be maintained. Works of art open themselves up to art criticism, and this allotted fissure in the social fabric can lead to new questions regarding the nature of things. It is for this reason that I believe criticism to be the hallmark sentiment of our time. In the arts, this sentiment seems to have supplanted that of free expression. However, much of the critical sentiments and statements are derived from a lack of free expression outside the pretense of art. My particular interest in art is how it represents the society that accommodates it, and how both art and society are amenable to change.

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matthewtaylorwilliams.com