Biography
Matthew Vivirito lives, teaches, and maintains a studio practice in Milwaukee, WI. Born and raised in Illinois, he lived in the western United States of Colorado and California for ten years before becoming a full time artist and educator. Matthew has created a diverse body of work responding to the varied places and environments he has resided within. His work is an exploration of materials, memory, and site-specific content responding to these environments.
Matthew is currently a faculty member at the Pack School of the Arts at the University of Wisconsin, Milwaukee. He exhibits work regionally and nationally and was shown in the New York Times and Hyperallergic for his piece Framework as part of the Wormfarm Institute’s Farm/Art Dtour. He recently received the Gener8tor Grant, the Ruth Arts Grant, and a Fellowship to the Wisconsin Institute of Discovery. Matthew has permanent installations on campus at the the Chazen Museum in Madison, WI, at the University of Colorado Boulder, Mitchell Street Arts (MISA) and Harley Davidson in Milwaukee, WI. He has collaborated and worked for notable artists including Macarthur Fellow Mel Chin. He received his Bachelor of Fine Arts in Sculpture and Bachelor in Art History from the University of Colorado and his Masters of Fine Arts from the University of Wisconsin Madison.
Artist Statement
I am an interdisciplinary artist, designer, and educator whose work focuses on the environment and functional design while exploring social, interactive, and process-based practices. I am interested in discovering expressive and reflective modes of communicating through crafted objects and spaces. I find value in building complex work out of the simplest of components. The installations and functional designs invite audiences to engage and participate with the art physically and mentally.
I consider my work to be a response to human experience. The fallibility of memory, the temporality of our body, the pain, and pleasure of everyday life. I seek to discover the history and meaning of place and material and respond in ways that reflect my experiences with them.
Having worked for artists whose work spans decades and disciplines, I continuously evolve within a unique and intuitive art practice. I explore social practices, field work, research, collaboration, and community outreach. I am fascinated by how expansive and influential art is on the world.