A prole’s table cloth

pulled from its dwelling

disassembled by mortars

run up a lamp post

In the silence of ceasefire

without wind

draped dingey white

a dead flag hangs

Exhibition Prospectus: On Being A Man

Being born to a rural community, oversaturated with masculinity, to a patriarch that exemplified its worst traits, facilitated a youth of overwhelming confusion, dysphoria, and dissassociative coping. On the one hand, there is the experience of unmistakable love and care of a mother. On the other, a court ordered visitation, rhetoric to disparage her, propaganda to discredit her, incessant evaluation, cruel critique and unrealistic expectations to “be a man.”

After several years of documenting surrogate examples of similar dynamics within southern culture, this work collates those interactions and utilizes performance, installation and new media as meditation. More specifically, it turns the view from cathartic introspection to the universal concepts of war and patriarchally facilitated violence.

Artist, Eli Matson

Eli Matson was born and raised in rural Georgia where he attended high school and explored painting and woodwork. Upon graduation, he would go to Atlanta to study photography and sculpture. Here, he would explore abstract and conceptual works; as well as political documentary. He would utilize antiquarian printing processes, installation, woodcraft, foundry, and sound. Today he employs sonic art in installation-based works that act as meditations on humanity’s role in global violence. His hope is to continue this work to its own end, exhibit with opportunity and open a residency in the rural Midwest.

Instagram: @eli.matson