Matthew Ortega
Medium: Mixed Media Studio Location: Studio 34 - Studio# 412 34-01 38th Avenue Website:: www.matthewortega.studio Artist Bio: Born in 1985 in New York City. Lives and works in Queens, New York. Matthew Ortega explores ways to connect technology with traditional artmaking techniques. His work addresses the subject of disruption and play in various media such as drawing, collage, generative software, and video. Artist Statement: Matthew Ortega???s practice revolves around exploring ways to inject poetry into technology through artistic practice. At Mason Gross University of the Arts, he was first introduced to connecting technology and art through his Professor Hasan Elahi. The internet was taking off, remix culture was in the air, and there were a lot of questions on how this would effect art making. His initial response took the form of collage, a medium that seemed more relevant to the conversation in the 2000s. This eventually led to the work that he is doing today, connecting programming with traditional media such as drawing, collage, and painting. Matthew Ortega???s story has been drawn to this point actually through his work experience as a designer. As a designer he was often using programming on many of his projects. He started to see that programming was being used in more practical than creative ways in the world, and felt there was a deep void to be filled in finding the poetry in these practices. After spending 2 years breaking through the initial technical barrier, he has reached a level where we can begin focusing more on ideas and implementation than technical skills. He was drawn to interactive art because he believes that it is the only way that we can develop contemporary myths. Even in his own artistic experience, the classical media such as painting and printmaking seemed to lack a relevance on there own if they somehow are not bridged with the digital world. All images and text copyright Matthew Ortega