JAVA July:Aug 2018

Figures 1–3
Figures 4– 6
experience offered a wealth of opportunities and had a tremendous impact on
Magee’s life and career. Magee lived in Brooklyn and worked in the five-story
building on Lafayette Street in Manhattan – a 19th-century orphanage – that
Rauschenberg bought back in the 1960s. Over the years, Magee has exhibited
his work in New York, Albuquerque, Houston, Chicago, Connecticut, Marfa,
London and, of course, Phoenix.
After 30 years of living in New York City, Matt and his partner, Randall, decided
to move back to the Southwest and settled in Arizona in 2012. He currently has a
studio at the Cattle Track Arts Compound in Scottsdale, which has a rich history of
important artists who have worked at the historic desert ranch property over the
years. Local art legends Fritz Scholder and the founder of the Phoenix Art Museum,
Phillip Curtis, once lived and worked there.
Magee is currently working on a book that explores the artwork he has created
over the last six years while residing here in the Valley. He enjoys working in his
studio on a daily basis, and has found inspiration in the rich desert landscape and
laid-back lifestyle.
JAVA recently met up with the artist for a studio visit and asked him to discuss the
visual language that informs his artwork:
Matt Magee: In the late 1970s, I was working retail in a mall in Dallas. After
every garment shipment, we were throwing away loads and loads of plastic
garment bags, the kind you get at the dry cleaner. I started bringing them
home and experimenting, twisting the bags so they could be pulled through
metal cloth. I also sewed cotton twine through them (fig. 1), draped them and
hung them in trees and wadded them into balls and melted them with a torch.
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