Matthew Brandt's photo-based works stand as a compelling fusion that marries historical techniques with modern sensibilities, drawing heavily from 19th-century American landscape photography and pioneering processes like gum-bichromate and handmade papermaking. Often embedding elements from the subjects he photographs—from lake water to tree-derived charcoal—Brandt elevates the medium into a symbiotic dialogue with nature, one where entropy and spontaneity coalesce into the unexpected. Brandt's work distills the tension between human control and natural unpredictability.
In his latest exhibition, Joshua Trees, Brandt explores the screen printing process by employing a blend of digital and analog techniques to evoke the nuanced textures and colors of the iconic desert flora. The resulting works are complex tapestries of sand, evoking the ephemeral. Each piece emerges as a textured manifestation that challenges the fleeting nature of its own medium. The works serve as tactile and vivid continuations of the Joshua trees' natural essence while transmuting the ephemerality of scattered sand grains into the durable—a technique evocative of the transient sand mandalas of Tibetan monks.
Brandt imbues these works with an elemental connection by using sand gathered from the locales where he photographed the trees. His palette offers a rich spectrum from the subtle, nostalgic tones reminiscent of vintage 35mm film, to electrifying bursts of color that echo the psychedelic aesthetics integral to 1960s rock culture to monochromatic works that are evocative of 19th and early 20th century photography. These monochromatic pieces, encased in frames crafted from sand and jesmonite, subtly mirror the desert landscapes that cradle their subjects. Such stylistic choices contribute to the intersection of technology and the tangible, a theme further deepened by the nuanced spiritual and physical interplay embedded in the works.
The Joshua tree, central to this exhibition, emerges as a symbol of nature's enduring resilience in a challenging desert ecosystem. While the tree's delicate germination process and storied cultural significance form a rich backdrop, Brandt's focus veers towards a more intimate, almost mystical relationship between the subject and its native environment. Such an engagement presents the Joshua tree not just as a survivalist but also as a spiritual muse—a conduit linking divine myths to earthly realities.
Stripping away the multitude of meanings—whether cultural, musical, or spiritual—that have accumulated around the Joshua tree, Brandt's exhibition uniquely situates it within the larger conversation about the quest for spiritual and artistic expression. Brandt's work captures the elusive essence of the Joshua tree through various material applications. In doing so, he orchestrates a meditative space where the shifting sands of mysticism, resilience, and creativity coalesce into a resonant tapestry of human and natural history.
Matthew Brandt (b. 1982, Los Angeles, CA) received his BFA from Cooper Union and MFA from UCLA. The artist has been the subject of numerous institutional solo shows, including Light & Matter: The Art of Matthew Brandt at the Forest Lawn Museum, CA; Orphic Forest, Erarta Museum of Contemporary Art, Saint Petersburg, Russia; Rocks and Eagles at the Newark Museum, NJ, Sticky/Dusty/Wet at the Columbus Museum of Art, Columbus OH, which travelled to the Virginia Museum of Contemporary Art, Virginia Beach, VA and SCAD Museum of Art, Savannah, GA. Recent museum group exhibitions include Second Nature: Photography in the Age of the Anthropocene at the Nasher Museum of Art, Durham, NC (traveling); Ansel Adams in Our Time, de Young Memorial Museum, San Francisco, CA (traveling); New Territory: Landscape Photography Today at the Denver Art Museum, Denver, CO; The Magic Medium at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles, CA; Light, Paper, Process: Reinventing Photography at the J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, CA; Second Chances at the Aspen Art Museum, Aspen, CO; What is a Photograph? at the International Center of Photography, New York, NY; and Land Marks at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY. Brandt’s work was recently acquired by the Minneapolis Institute of Art, Minneapolis, Minnesota, where his work is also included in the group exhibition Another Look. His work can be found in the permanent collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC; J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles; Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, NY; Brooklyn Museum, New York; Art Gallery of South Wales, Sydney, Australia; Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond; Cincinnati Art Museum; Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Hammer Museum, Los Angeles; Royal Danish Library, National Museum of Photography, Copenhagen; Denver Art Museum; High Museum, Atlanta; Detroit Institute of Arts; Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art at Cornell University, Ithaca, NY; and the Columbus Museum of Art, among others. Matthew Brandt lives and works in Los Angeles.
