I was born in upstate New York in September 1976. I was always drawing, interested in art, and working on creative projects (ask me about them sometime). Two of my most formative art experiences happened at a very young age. I remember seeing the paintings and graphics in a large Time Life set of books about the birth of America. I was impressed and went back again and again to look at them. Another foundational visual experience was looking at the illustrations for The Epic of Gilgamesh in a book on myths and legends.

I began my formal art training at the Pratt extension campus at Munson Williams Proctor Arts Institute in 1997. I had been encouraged to continue my artistic pursuits after high school by my art teacher, Roberta Dudley. At Pratt at MWPI I studied with, among others, Lisa Gregg Wightman, Greg Lawler, and Dan Buckingham. MWPI was an amazing experience for me. It solidified my desire to undertake a life in painting, encouraged and enhanced my intellectual interest in the history of art and art theory, and gave me a real basis from which to begin the journey. It was also the place where I was exposed to the two artists who have shaped my interests and directions ever since: Richard Diebenkorn and Odd Nerdrum. While their influences have since been enfolded into the broad basis from which my painting flows, I recall warmly the passion I had for their work at this
primary stage of my education. 

In the fall of 1999 I transferred to the School of the Art Institute of Chicago under the auspices of a scholarship. The formal and technical training I had received at MWPI was almost unknown at SAIC (to get formal training, one had to take a specific materials and techniques class, which I eventually took from Jim Lutes). I had a hard time transitioning to the conceptual, nonchalant atmosphere. I wished to pursue representational painting, yet I also felt compelled to study and integrate the conceptual, theoretical concerns into my understanding. These two arenas seemed at odds, or rather, the general tone at SAIC set these two arenas at odds. I found no advocacy for the traditions of painting, for the value of the body as a form and symbol. In the years since I have realized that if I had but turned the right corner, taken the right class, I might have found the small bastion of technical, representational painting that does exist there in the form of Susanna Coffey, Dan Gustin, Marion Kryczka, and a few others. Even so, I was able to study with a number of good teachers there, among them Anoka Faruqee, Frank Piatek, and George Liebert. I graduated in 2001, having spent the majority of my undergraduate career pursuing abstraction.

In the summer of 2001 I took a three month residency at Ox-Bow, a summer school of art located in Saugatuck, Michigan. While there I really looked at what my work was about, what I was trying to achieve, and what means might best bring me to those ends. I decided to return to the figure, to the study of the body and the symbolic power it holds. After Ox-Bow, I moved to Evanston, IL. I continued to work on my painting. I worked from observation. I studied more about materials and techniques. I began to write more, completing my first book in 2003. I built a portfolio of paintings over the next couple of years that I felt really began to touch on the issues I wished to explore. I got married in June of 2003. I began to think of Chicago as my home. These events, when gathered together, formed the defining arena within which I could actively work in a focused direction.

I was accepted into the MFA program at Indiana University in Bloomington, IN and began my studies there in the fall of 2003. With the help of the faculty there I was able to further define and refine my ideas and work. Barry Gealt, Tim Kennedy, Eve Mansdorf, and Bonnie Sklarski each had a part in my growth. In spite of their differences of approach and values, my instructors encouraged my passion for the potential of painting in contemporary life, bolstered my discipline and work ethic, and provided an example of what it means to have a vigorous, lifetime engagement with painting. I graduated in 2005 and then spent a month living in Florence, Italy with many of my colleagues. This trip was more than just a fitting conclusion to my years of institution-based art study. It was a total
immersion into the history and present expression of this amazing form of physical philosophy that I have taken on as my life pursuit.

After graduating I worked from home for two years. My wife and I decided that I would work to develop my painting in this time after graduate school in order to maintain the momentum I gained while at school but also to give me a chance to create my work outside the structures of a school environment. I am grateful to my wife, who supported us in the day to day financial aspects; I attempt to honor her willingness and dedication by my own fervent work ethic in my studio. This arrangement had fast fruits in terms of my writing and painting. My first major essay - "Second Horizon: The Changing Vision of Odd Nerdrum" was published in June 2006 in Image Journal. My first corporate commission was installed at MacMunnis, Inc in April of 2006.

 

In August 2007 I was hired as a Visiting Assistant Professor of Painting and Drawing at the University of Missouri, where I will remain through at least Spring 2009. I greatly enjoy my students - both undergraduate and graduate - and look forward to many more years of teaching. 

 

To find out more about my work and ideas, please check out the Essays page of this website. Feel free to email me at mattballou (at) gmail.com if you want any other information.

Matt Ballou, May 2008