Dean Mattioli
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My Goddamn Taxpayer Dollars
2020
Acrylic on paper
12" x 30"
Statement
Through two dimensional, animation and video work I focus on elements of suburban life. This way of life had become very normal to me growing up there. Having now left I realize these things aren’t necessarily normal and I have been able to see the suburbs as they are. Certain parts stand out to me as strange and even funny. I bring focus to these things that are hiding in plain sight, highlighting what I find particularly humorous. Making what is generally understood to be a regular life, feel more irregular. I do this by using imagery that is very commonplace and generally uninteresting. I will often use text to bring more attention to what I’m addressing, usually in the form of some sort of slogan or gag. Referencing material you might be exposed to whilst living in the suburbs such as television programming, as well as the commercials and other advertisements that come along with that. I feel that the imagery you would see here is what defines how we see suburban life. A life that I feel has gone generally unchanged. So in the same way a television show might I bring attention to what might get overlooked in life, elevating the subject.
General Fine Arts (BFA) Students