#matthew feyld

[abstrakton]

Matthew Feyld

[matthewfeyld]

Installation view, ‘Presque Rien’ at Geukens & De Vil

left: Daniel Levine, middle: Ted Stamm, right: Matthew Feyld

[kokiarts]

Matthew Feyld, Untitled, 2017-18

Acrylic, pigments, modeling paste on canvas over panel

8″ x 8″　kokiarts.com

[equatorjournal]

matthew feyld

[perrydoane]

matthew feyld

[ihavefoundtheline]

Matthew Feyld. Untitled (Blue 2), 2014.

[wherethespiritmeetstheboneposts]

Matthew Feyld

[drawdownbooks]

Enclosed Expanse / Available at www.draw-down.com / A collaborative #zine based on the theme of polarities and continuums. Featuring work by Job Boot, Matthew Feyld, Espen Friberg, Chris Harnan, Aron Hill, María Medem, Andreas Meinich, Tomomi Mizukoshi, Alicia Nauta, Tomas Nilsson, Marcus Oakley, E. F. Richardson, and Damien Tran. Curated by Errol F. Richardson (Busymaker). Printed in a #limitededition of 200 copies / #Risograph

[houseofvans]

ART SCHOOL | MIKE EGAN (Portland, OR)

Influenced by German Expressionists like Max Beckman and Kathe Kollwitz, Portland artist Mike Egan has always been interested in death and dying. His colorful and bold paintings are covered in his signature skeletons, skulls, and flowers and often reflect his own experiences and life. We’re stoked to chat with Mike about his art, his work as a funeral director and embalmer, and his overall experiences in the art world in this round of Art School. 

Photographs courtesy of the artist

Introduce yourself.  Hello!!! My name is Mike Egan, I make artwork about death and dying. I'm originally from Pittsburgh, PA but moved to Portland, OR in 2016. Portland is a cool town, it seems like there is always something art or music related happening. My favorite thing though is eating all the delicious food in the city

Your particular journey into art is fascinating because you studied printmaking, worked professionally as an funeral director / embalmer, and eventually began painting, showing all over the world.  As a result, there’s a strong connection between themes of death, afterlife, and mortality in your work.  How would you describe the paintings and works you create? When I started I had this idea of doing funeral portraits. Each painting would represent someone who died. But as I kept painting I realized that my paintings are mostly about me and how I feel at the time. People often ask why I put 1977 or 77 in my paintings, and it's because that's the year I was born. And although most of my work has skeletons and death, they are mostly about my life. I guess I want to leave something behind when I go that people will continue to talk about.

How has the work you did as a funeral director / embalmer changed your perception about life and art? I'd say that I thought about dying a lot more when I was working in funeral homes. I'm guessing that being around death and grieving so much will do that to you. But the big thing was that I was really stressed out doing it and didn't really want to do it. My passion has always been art and it's ultimately what I wanted to do as a career. I would say I think about my life more now as an artist because I love it.

Was there a time where you just didn’t think you could do it? Did you find having a creative outlet helpful?   Yeah the job was rough for sure. Especially cause I was on call basically 24 hours, four days a week. So if someone died at 3 am, I'd go pick them up and doing the embalming. Sometimes we would do eight of those in a day. As much as I didn't like the being on call part, it's really the reason why I got better at painting. I was always home alone just making art, figuring things out.

Prior to painting, who were some of your early artistic influences? Do still find those influences permeating in your work now? When I first got into printmaking in college I was introduced to Jose Guadalupe Posada and the German Expressionists like Max Beckman and Kathe Kollwitz. I think they were the main reason I found the themes of death in art so interesting. I was also drawn to their bold line work which was also something that leaked into my work. After college I didn't have the studio to continue printmaking so I started to paint. It took a number of years but I basically figured I'd try to make my paintings look like my prints. It worked!

What’s a day like in the studio when you’ve gotta make work? I like to start with making a list of goals for myself, it helps keep me on pace for the day. After that it's making a cup of coffee, putting on a podcast and getting to work. I'll pack up any orders from my shop that need to be mailed out. But mostly it's painting, I like to have five to six different paintings going at once. It helps keep things interesting for me

What was the first show you ever exhibited in? What was your last show? My first show as a painter was in 2006 in Pittsburgh. A group of friends got together and put on a show in a gallery. I had no idea what I was doing. I never hung artwork before. But I sold three paintings and made $1000.00 so that was amazing. My last show was at Yard Dog Art Gallery in Austin, TX. It's one of my favorite galleries to work with. I've done three solo shows with them now and enjoy going down to Texas for the openings.

What’s your strangest art story that you want to share? Hmmmmmmm. I guess just being able to make art and meet cool people is crazy enough. I got to go to ComicCon one year where I made 50 small pop icon paintings. Frank Kozik and Ron English each bought one and that's pretty mind blowing.

When you’re looking at art to enjoy or own, what do you look for? What appeals to an artist? I guess subject matter and colors are big ones for me. I tend to like art that is folk art or inspired by folk art. Some artists I like are Richard Colman, Cleon Peterson, Fred Stonehouse, Troy Lovegates, AJ Fosik and Barry Mcgee

What is one of your favorite piece of art that you own? I have an older Matthew Feyld painting that I love. It's two guys running with no pants on. His earlier work blew me away when I started out as an artist.

How do you overcome drawer’s block? I think the best thing for me to do is to get outside and step away from my paintings and studio. Just walking through the city I might stumble upon a cool church, a bridge or patterns that I can use in future work.

What are your favorite Vans? I grew up being into skateboarding. The first pair of skate shoes that I owned were the maroon and grey full cabs. I was terrible at skateboarding but at least I looked cool doing it.

A bit of a morbid question, but have you thought of how you’d want your body disposed of, after having worked at a mortuary? Well when working in the business I always thought about a traditional funeral where I'd get embalm and placed in a casket. However, as I get older I'm becoming more environmentally conscious and think that by doing that we're just pumping metals and chemicals into the ground. So honestly I'd prefer a green funeral where they basically dig a hole and place your body in it to decompose naturally.

What’s coming up next for you Mike? Well, I'm revisiting my roots and trying to get back into printmaking again. I would prefer to hand print everything as opposed to doing digital prints. Besides that I'll be doing a show with Red Truck Gallery in New Orleans in the spring as well as with True Measure Gallery here in Portland.

Follow Mike Egan | Instagram | @mike77egan  | Twitter |  @egan1977​

[treebystream]

matthew feyld

[matthewfeyld]

Delphine Reist / Matthew Feyld - Installation View

At Galerie Lange + Pult in Zurich, Switzerland

24 November, 2017- 27 January, 2018

www.langepult.com

[kokiarts]

Matthew Feyld, Untitled, 2017-18

Acrylic, pigments, modeling paste on canvas over panel

8″ x 8″　kokiarts.com

[equatorjournal]

Matthew Feyld Untitled, 2014. Ink on paper.

[seldomworks-blog]

Matthew Feyld

[untrustyou]

Matthew Feyld

[pleoros]

Matthew Feyld - Iceland, 2010