Matt Liston

Born 1971, Los Angeles, CA, lives and works in Los Angeles, CA

Matt has been creating and showing art out of the Los Angeles and San Francisco Bay areas for going on three decades. He has shown in over 25 group shows across the U.S. during this time. His work has been in the areas of Photography (urban landscape and architectural abstraction), ink-wash (abstraction) and drawing (figurative). He is a self-taught artist whose formal education was in the areas of psychology and philosophy. His academic career ended with a thesis on Martin Buber and A.H. Maslow. As for artistic influences, he references artists such as Franz Kline, Louise Nevelson, Kathe Kollwitz and Edward Weston. He also refers to the installations of Celeste Boursier-Mougenot and Ragnar Kjartansson. He notes that while he was not interested in emulating a specific style or ideology, he found in the above a bold, intricate and emotionally intense aesthetic that compelled him to create.

Matt's intent when developing a composition is to establish a harmonious rapport between disparate elements. His belief is that the nature of the creative impulse mimics one of the fundamental tasks of consciousness in general – it strives to resolve a collection of objects that hav...

California State University Long Beach, B.A. with Honors, Honors Thesis completed in Philosophy of Religion, Major Psychology, Minor Philosophy

Awards/Honors

2001 - 2nd Place, Juried Show, 57 Underground, Pomona CA, Juror Roland Reiss

2002 - 2nd Place, Photo 2003, Irvine Fine Arts Center, Irvine CA, Juror James Scarborough

2003 - Honorable Mention, Made in California, City of Brea Gallery, Brea CA, Juror James Elaine

Group Shows

1999 - Los Angeles Biennial, Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery, Los Angeles, CA

2001 - 2001 Juried Show, 57 Underground, Pomona, CA

2001 - Urban, Suburban and the Boondocks, 2nd City Council Gallery, Long Beach, CA

2001 - Southern California Open Show, Gallery 825, Beverly Hills, CA

2002 - Annual Statewide Exhibit, Santa Cruz Arts League, Santa Cruz, CA

2002 - Brand 32/Works on Paper, Brand Library and Art Center, Glendale, CA

2003 - Open National Exhibit, Long Beach Arts, Long Beach, CA

2003 - Photo 2003, Irvine Fine Arts Center, Irvine, CA

2003 - America, 2nd City Council Gallery, Long Beach, CA

2003 - Works on Paper, Long Beach Arts, Long Beach, CA

2003 - Why Art?, 2nd City Council Gallery, Long Beach, CA

2003 - Made in California, City of Brea Gallery, Brea, CA

2004 - Feed the Senses, Lankershim Art Gallery, North Hollywood, CA

2006 - The Art of Business, 2nd City Council Gallery, Long Beach, CA

2007 - Magnitude Seven,...