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6.28.14 

The Contemporary Arts Center (Cincinnati, OH) has announced my upcoming exhibition as part of their 2014–2015 season. the perfect kiss (QQ)* *questioning queer will be an exhibition of several of my recent projects placed in conversation with works by the late James Lee Byars.

I have been appointed the Assistant Art Editor at Newcity, a bi-weekly paper distributed here in Chicago, IL.

My painting florine flannery is included in the group exhibition The Meanest of Them Sparkled at Thunder-Sky Inc. in Cincinnati, OH that opens Saturday, June 28th. The exhibition commemorates the 50th anniversary of Flannery O’Connor’s death and responds to her works of fiction. Continues through August 9th.

I have several works included in Caps for Sale: a Tale of a Peddler, some Monkeys and Their Monkey Business at the Bike Room in Rogers Park (Chicago, IL). Exhibition opens July 12th and continues through August 16th. Organized by Nancy Lu Rosenheim, Caps for Sale brings together artists who also work as curators and in other multifaceted roles in the arts. Exhibition includes Dan Devening, Michelle Grabner, Karsten Lund, Adelheid Mers, Matt Morris, and Edra Soto.

I curated Miss Kilman and She Were Terrible Together at the Hills Esthetic Center (May 10–June 6), a group exhibition that coincided with the conclusion of the Painting Queer course I taught at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. Exhibition included Shinsuke Aso, Luis Miguel Bendaña, Poy Born, Alex da Corte, Dana DeGiulio, Hunter Foster, Jesse Harrod, Richard Hawkins, Matthew Landry, Tony Luensman, Miller & Shellabarger, Ulrike Müller, William J. O’Brien, BD Pack, Daisy Palma, Eric Ruschman, Ryan Shubert, Amy Sillman, and Joan Snyder. A free zine was released in conjunction with the exhibition and featured contributions from David Getsy, Richard Hawkins, Andrew Holmquist, Ulrike Müller, Lisi Raskin, and myself. Collin Pressler wrote a thoughtful review of the exhibition for Chicago Artist Writers.

i’m issue, i’m free, a solo exhibition at peregrineprogram (Chicago, IL), May 4–25, 2014.

2.19.14

Works included in the group exhibition No faith but what we make curated by Joel Parsons for Clough-Hanson Gallery at Rhodes College. Exhibition runs from February 21–April 1, 2013

Works included in the group exhibition and look at another’s whole curated by Zach Rawe for Fjord in Philadelphia, PA. Opens February. I had a conversation with artist Suzanne Seesman in the space on Saturday, February 15th. You can listen to a recording of the conversation here. Two wonderful reviews by Chip Schwartz and Allison Hardt.

Jason Foumberg interviewed me about Painting Queer, the course I am teaching at SAIC. It is currently in Newcity Art, both in print and online. Read it here.

I have written one of the nine contributions to “Art School: Peer Review” featured in the current issue of The St. Claire out of Philadelphia, PA. It draws together questions and responses about the state of MFA programs in the U.S.

Anastasia Tasou recently asked to interview me for her blog In Your Heart Very Sad.

An artist project included in the most recent issue of Monsters & Dust due out in February 2014.

*another* artist project included in the most recent issue of 3rd Language: Never Satisfied. The online edition is up now, with the print edition due out later in February.

A multiple in Daily Life Storage’s newest portfolio Glory. It is a small banner made from a digital print on silk blend. More about Daily Life Storage here.

My essay “Neither Queer Nor There: Categories, Assemblages, and Transformations” appears in the Jan/Feb 2014 issue of Art Papers. In it, I consider recent rap music projects from House of LaDosha, Le1f, Cakes da Killa and others, and how these artists intersect with issues around “queer.”

Pleased as punch to have been brought on as an Editor-in-Residence at Chicago Artist Writers. The group of texts that I have edited has taken Susan Sontag’s call for replacing a hermeneutics of art with “an erotics of art” as its point of departure. Contributions include Caroline Carlsmith writing about Doug Ischar and JT Bruns writing about B Ingrid Olson. 

I am currently teaching two courses in the Spring 2014 at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, entitled respectively Painting Queer (through Painting + Drawing department) and Bodies + Technologies (through Sculpture Department). 

Works included in the group exhibition The Residents, the inaugural exhibition at Live(In) Gallery, an apartment gallery space opening in the Brighton district of Cincinnati, OH.

10.21.13

I am presenting new work at PEREGRINEPROGRAM in the exhibition a long line that opens next Sunday, October 27, from 4-7 pm. More information here.

This autumn = work in the studio, writing, reading, + making fruit jams. I am preparing work for several upcoming exhibitions, as well as a few articles, essays, and artist projects for different publications. More information forthcoming.

I completed my MFA in Art Theory + Practice from Northwestern in June 2013, culminating in the exhibition CLOWNFLÂNEUR at the Mary + Leigh Block Museum of Art. In addition, I’ve earned a Certificate in Gender + Sexuality Studies. I have recently begun contributing to Artforum.com, Newcity Art, and a few other outlets for criticism, and I’m working on syllabi for two courses I’ll be teaching at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago in the spring.

A performance score I have written entitled Petal Protection was included in otherwise at Beige in Memphis, TN. more info here.

I presented a solo exhibition entitled Grids + Other Erotica at Low Road Gallery in Greencastle, IN in February. 

Two works of mine appeared in Oh My Goddess at Queer Thoughts in Chicago in October. Delighted for the write up Oh My Goddess received in Chicago Weekly. And Sarah Nardi for the Reader described one of my pieces as “a small, vaguely clitoral pearl affixed to the wall.” Amused + flattered. And check out the accompanying PDF for the exhibition here.

I am delighted to be included in the Scrotum Portfolio organized and curated by Kris Harzinski. This consists of an extremely small edition of multiples by a group of artists that are available for free through Kris’ website. Click here for more information.

Aaron Delamatre invited me to contribute a panel to his web comic Dungeon Face, a pick-yr-own-adventure fantasy story that is directed by fan voting on Facebook. Click here to see my contribution. 

Also, as a parallel web presence to this site, I have been working on a tumblr. Within my practice, it functions as both an installation artwork and a theoretical research project in which I am compiling images of art (mine and others), bodies, architecture, fashion, color and porn. Just a head’s up, some of the images get pretty explicit: mattmorriswerks