Jackie Dunne, a reader of this blog and also one of Matt’s Facebook Fans, recently undertook a project for a college class whereby she interviewed Matt about his art practices, humanitarian projects, and ideas.

Matt’s granddaughter, Rose Lamb Gabler, recently posed Matt these questions, relaying Matt's answers to Jackie for her project.

Matt enjoyed the Q&A so much, he wanted to share it with you.

Jackie has given us her enthusiastic permission to reprint this exchange on the Blog and Facebook, so I am happy to relay it to you below.

Please enjoy, and if the exchange leaves you with questions about Matt’s processes, don’t hesitate to leave comments and ask questions.  Matt always enjoys his dialogue with you.

Thank you,
Richard
Blog editor

What are the materials you have used over the years and today?
Some of the materials that I use are traditional and others are completely out-of-the-box!  I have special paint made by a friend of mine.  I also use pigments that I put into traditionally prepared paints. I use wax and inks. The paints I like the best are oil based, although I do use acrylic, usually on paper or cardboard or collages between paper and cardboard. Traditional stretched and un-stretched canvas...  Any type of cloth, wood, metal, any found objects...

To me all material has it’s own character, power, and weakness. It travels according to whatever its nature is, and we as artists either recognize the power and uniqueness of the material, and therefore use it in predictable ways, or we decide to work with materials in unpredictable ways to discover hidden messages of the material—so I can become a partner with the material and present to the world a message from the spirits using my own knowledge, my inherited knowledge, and my implied power with all of the power and the mystery of the materials.

Describe the environment you work in.
I work in any environment the spirit takes me to.  Inside, outside, in a barn, on a cliffside...  Place is not important to me.  Any place where I can become part of the process of creating a message through art, is the place I want to be.  To me, place is not paramount.

Before I set up a formal camp in my studio, I contemplate and meditate to see if my spirits are there and make sure it’s a place I believe is inhabited by the holy spirit and the good powers.

What are the locations you have studios?
My traditional locations are the Florida Keys, Chicago, Wisconsin, Ireland, Paris, Argentina, Spain, Germany, and Russia.  I have also painted in many other places such as Greece and Mexico.  These are the places I can put some sort of either paper, pencil or water color together, and that is also physically accepting of me and my art process.

Who is in charge of selling your work in galleries?
All of the politics and economics of my art is handled by my daughter Sheila, her daughter Rose, and a great group of people from around the world.  I am completely withdrawn from that part of the art world.

My full attention is to my work, trying to break into the mysteries of art, the materials, and how to present my message to the world in intruiging ways.  My job is to make the art.  Someone else’s job is to sell it to the world.

Do you feel it’s important for an artist to make money through their art?
The business of art is very complex.  If you are with a group or a particular gallery, they have a certain culture that you are expected to adhere to. Therefore, the similarity or internal consistency of your work is considered to be paramount.

I, on the other hand, believe that art is a living and growing entity.  We don’t look the same at 80 as we looked when we were 3.  I believe there is a danger of turning into Xerox machines over time, and not be innovative explorers anymore.  Therefore, I believe to truly explore your own inner substance of who you are as an artist cannot be controlled by a financial scheme.  It must be controlled by who you are, what you’re trying to create, and why.  Whether it makes sense to anyone else, is immaterial.

You have to be your own critic, your own cheerleader, and you have to be consistent in your imagination.  I happen to believe you will never know what your full potentials are until you pass over into the other side.  Economics cannot be the sole part in making art; otherwise you become part of a production line.

Your art is a manifestation of who and what you are, how you view your surroundings, your culture, your spirituality.  You present it to the world and say:  This is who I am, and if the rest of the world likes it, great, andif they don’t, that’s immaterial.

When you started painting, did you promote your own work, or did you have agents who helped you with that?
There was a woman who was a former nun, Simone Nathan, whom I consulted on the rules of the road.  She is the one who introduced my work to the gallery system.  I believe as part of the education of the artist, you should know what the culture is regarding what you’re supposed to do.

Just as when you drive a car you should know how it goes forward and backwards, where the heater is, etc., that doesn’t mean you’re going to use them all of the time.  But you should still know where they are.  I believe you as an artist have to feed your stomach and your soul.  But you don’t have to be a glutton. The balance between the material and spiritual is undetermined. You determine that.

As we know we all have to eat, I suggest that people divide their time. Make something for your stomach, but absolutely make most of your exploration for your soul. That is where you’ll find self and identity, and that’s were the true meaning of your art will be manifested.

Do you pay special attention to your press releases?
As with anything in this world, if a song is being played in the forest, is it heard or not?  I believe you must leave a record of why you do things.  That is why I am so precise, as much as I can be, in my exploration.  Otherwise people make up things about it after you’re dead.  I believe you should leave some type of a written history behind so history will be made from fact, not fiction.  That means photograph your art, tell your story, do Facebook, even Youtube. You can articulate what you’re doing with all of your reality, your foolishness, sincerity, and doubts.  Lay it all out.

What inspires you?
The impossible dream of creating a piece of material that can be looked at by many different cultures and interpreted by many different cultures. I believe that love is the overriding factor of our human species.  I believe that the perfect metaphor is a piece of art.  We question everything, we debate, we doubt, we argue.  That’s fine, but we can’t physically beat up anyone or kill one another over these issues. Therefore art is the perfect metaphor to being different and bringing cultures together and coming to the conclusion that we will never agree but we will never commit violence because we disagree.

Do you believe formal art education is necessary?
I believe everyone should do whatever they want to do.  In my particular case, I was a funeral director before I was an artist.  In that profession, everything was documented, and ritual and protocol were of the upmost importance.  If you were burying a Catholic, Protestant, Muslim, Jew, atheist, etc., there were very set rituals that had to be carried out.  Therefore you had to study those things in detail.  If you got it wrong, it would be offensive towards the people who came to honor their loved ones.

When I left the funeral business to become an artist I didn’t want to know the rules or regulations.  I didn’t want to know what you could and couldn’t do.  I wanted the spirit to develop me and teach me as I went along.  Would it have been easier if I went to a school and learned things?

I have a dread of school because in my earlier life I found it difficult to learn, to read, and to conform to the rules and regulations of formal education.  I found it difficult to get into school because I couldn’t pass the entrance exams, and then once I was in school, I found it very difficult to get out, because I couldn’t pass the exit exams.  So when you ask if a formal art education is necessary, you’re probably asking the wrong person.  But I do believe in the importance of education.  I believe in persistence and the personal goals we can achieve by paying attention and learning.

In your eyes and the eyes of your collectors, is your art delivering a message?
I have no idea what my collectors feel when they look at my art.  They can articulate whatever they want about it, which is fine and immaterial to me. It is immaterial because I think that art changes over time—not because the presentation of the art changes, but because people change.  That is why I don’t name my paintings:  The meaning always changes. I may look at a painting the day it is completed and have a certain feeling about it, then look at it again in five years and see something different.

Some people are very consistent on their feelings about their art.  Therefore they give their paintings titles.  Before I look at my art and sign it, I say to myself:  If this hung at the Louvre, would I be proud of it?  If the answer is yes, I sign it.  But I also say to myself:  This is the best I can do today, but tomorrow I’ll be trying to do better.

Is it important for an artist to have a good website?
The website is the web of the world.  Present yourself to the world, and whatever they think is fine.  If you don’t represent your work online, then that’s a personal decision that everyone has to make.  Don’t expect everyone to love your work no matter where you display it.  It is what it is.

How important is your artwork to you?
In my philosophy I believe that you have to accept and love yourself before you love everyone else.  And if my art is a manifestation of my spirit, therefore I must look at it and love it as it is.  I always feel I’m on a journey, and it’s not over till I’m called to the next life. Therefore, I am constantly trying to create a better journey for myself.  It is an archaeological dig through myself to find me. It is an impossible task, but I find it inspiring.  I can’t wait to get up every day and start digging.

When are you satisfied you have done all you can or want to on a painting?  Do you ever leave a painting for a long period of time and come back to it, and if so, what makes that decision for you?
I am a partner with the material.  I am not a dictator; I am a conductor.  When you, as a conductor, walk into the pit and hear distant sounds, which is actually the 60 geniuses tuning their instruments, you hear it become silent.  You raises your hands, and the music comes out and hits your soul.  So it is in my art, because today I may agree, tomorrow I might disagree.  When I sign a piece and I date it, that is the best I can do.  Tomorrow might be a different song, but I am not going to worry about that today.

What’s the imporance of the charity work you do?
Charity is very important, but there are many kinds of charity.  Just writing a check is an important part, but charity of spirit, outlook, and acceptance of other people, religions, cultures, colors, and persuasions is another important part.  Charity means many different things.  I think mediation on why you write the check is important, too.  Did you give that money because you have a business and want more?  Is that charity?  Is everyone going out to hang someone and you’re not carrying the rope, but you’re standing there mute—is that charity?

You need self-meditation to figure out why you do things, and that’s a scary place for a human being:  to judge yourself in a realistic manner.  Some people think it’s impossible.  I happen to think it is possible.  It takes practice, and it’s not a happy place all the time.  As a recovered alcoholic, I remember the time when everyone knew I was an alcoholic, and I was the last to find out.  Would it have been charitable for other people to tell me?  Who knows.  That’s an open-ended question.

How do children fit into your mission for world peace?
Children are the key to world peace.  They haven’t heard of the hates and jealousies that we have in every culture.  In our schools we teach our children reading, writing, and arithmetic.  We should also teach peace, tolerance, hope, understanding, and love.  We have to institutionalize being good to each other.  We assume that this is going to come from the home, but there are so many dysfunctional families, that this assumption is false.  Children should be taught to be kind to each other.  In the school year, might should not be right.

If two children are fighting, there should not be crowds egging them on; the two students should be pulled apart by their fellow classmates.  The motto should be:  This is a peaceful place—we don’t tolerate people being unkind to one another.  If we assume that people are going to learn to be peaceful, we’re fooling ourselves.  All you have to do is watch television or read the newspaper to see so much hate and crime.  You don’t see a lot of stories about being good, kind, and helpful to one another—helping the unfortunate and the fortunate, the dummy in school, the fat person, the cross-eyed outcast...

That doesn’t seem to be our culture, where it seems it’s more about laughing at people and making fun of them.  That’s not going to just come to us out of thin air, simply by us walking around.  We have to change the way we treat each other.  Our culture must become more understanding and loving.