RANDI Matushevitz
Where are you from and how did you get to Los Angeles?
I am most recently from Las Vegas. We decided to relocate to Los Angeles when my husband was offered a position here. It seemed like as good place as any. I came to LA by car in 2012, passengers were my 9-year-old, a dog and a cat. After missing the street several times, because it was pitch dark, we arrived at out new home at 2am.
Have you always been a painter, or was there a time when you were working in a totally different environment?
Painting is one of many the many skills I hold. I am prolific in oil and acrylic, and love to draw in mixed media that consists of charcoal, pastel and spray paint on paper or canvas. I love line and drawing that admiration is reflected in my paintings. When I am not painting I am constructing installations, working with found and fabricated items to create an immersive experience. I have a strong printmaking background which has had a profound effect on how I structure a composition.
In the past few years you have had a solo show and traveled abroad with your work. What happened there and has that changed your approach to how you work?
Each exhibition brings a wonderful learning experience. When I travel for exhibitions I make time to seek out the art, culture and history of the city. My time in Berlin was most special. I have been to Berlin three times. The second time I was there the wall still existed in many areas. My recent visit had the most profound effect on my work. It was the people, the history, the contemporary art. The wall was gone but for the monuments. This was the second stop for my artwork, parts of an installation, Conundrum, that was exhibited in Los Angeles earlier that year. I found the public reaction in Berlin quite refreshing. In Los Angeles, I was questioned as to why I, a white woman of privilege, would be concerned with public conundrums of our society. The implication was that unless I was more directly involved it could not be honest work. Being an existentialist, I couldn’t disagree more. These conundrums were outside of my personal life, but unavoidable in my community. I could not turn a blind eye. In Berlin, the response was of a different attitude. I remember a remark from the curator who said, “If not you than who? It is up to the educated to educate. It’s up to the middle class to bring cracks in the system to the forefront.” The effect was empowering. Both of the artworks displayed in Berlin found homes, one public at the Enter Art Foundation, and one private.
Your work is dark, yet playful. What is the inspiration behind the themes you work with?
Sublime and grotesque, my artwork depicts the emotional frailty caused by uncertainty. Inspired by the conundrums of experience, the hard stuff, the guttural, private, secret worlds that we don’t speak about, the ones that create traumas large and small. No one seems to go unscathed. My vision is macabre, eerie with a sense of uncertainty, and quiet dread—the wear and tear of life as mirrored by a facial expression. My artwork is an offering of transposition, a substitution for the real horrors of the distressed. I consider my paintings realist. They project an empathetic response to the trials of contemporary living, reliant on a type of human connection that exists in a silent inaudible understanding beyond gender, culture, religion, and language.
You've been around the Los Angeles art scene for awhile. What do you think is going on with ShockBoxx that has allowed this little space to find a spot in the Los Angeles art conversation?
I remember when Shockboxx first came on the scene, the enthusiasm was palatable. Over the years, Shockboxx became synonymous with a sense of comradery, encouraging artists to explore and experiment. Always professional, the gallery exudes a no-pressure, approachable atmosphere, that most galleries don’t outwardly promote. The result is a gallery that represents a broad aesthetic of art. The clientele and supporters are similar to the artwork from a variety of backgrounds and beliefs. I am attracted to this familial environment that encourages its artists to have a unique voice and express it within their practice. I am honored to a part of the Program.
