Matt Starr

"I don't want to be another boring artist doing boring things in boring spaces for boring people."

Matt Starr is a New Media artist living in New York City. His art is based around creating a total experience. His work often explores low brow culture and social media culture, and creating a dialogue with viewers.

Let’s talk about your recent series you started posting on instagram?

@mattstarrmattstarr @mattstarrmattstarr @mattstarrmattstarr

For the cast series, I have no direct relation to the products I am using, the prints and logos. I've never owned a Prada Purse or Hermes Scarf. It's partially about creating a dichotomy between these two opposing forces, like cast and pain with opulent and not so necessary. At the core of it is humor. People connect with humor on Instagram. When there are so many beautiful pictures of models,  nature, and food it's relief for most to stumble upon something more unexpected. In life and art people are looking for a way to connect and humor to me, is an effective way of doing that.

Regardless of what I’m trying to say or not say with the cast series, there’s a certain humor that allows those images to resonate. It’s interesting to see in a really short period of time, how people reacted to it. I mean it’s ridiculous to see someone in a Louis Vuitton body cast, but that ridiculousness is what makes it so intriguing. 

Do you think the fact that you can receive instant feedback on your work impacts the way you will progress a series or work?

Matt Starr at diet installation

If I believe in it, the hopes are other people will catch on. Obviously I'm affected. What artist isn't looking for affirmation through likes and comments? To what degree? - I'm not sure yet.

I live quickly, I move quickly. When I speak, whatever is inside just comes out - for better or worse. It comes out and whatever comes out is just what I have to live with. It’s kind of the same with my art, and this was even before social media, but now I have an outlet.

So do you then publish things without actually being certain of what you are trying to say and then have people’s interpretations inform the work?

Yeah. Well for example the Matt Starr X Kim Kardashian sex tape. I worked on that 60 seconds for about 4 months and I obviously had a lot of thoughts about that. Then I put it out there and the way it was received, just like a lot of work, was not what I thought it would be.

With the cast series, I just thought it was funny. Only after the response did I start to re-conceptualize what it was saying, but also I think people get too caught up with concept. In college I was very caught up in concept and theory. Right now, I’m very in touch with my emotions and naturally I am a very emotionally charged person and a lot of what I do now is based off feeling. I used to be too caught up in concept and wasn’t happy with the work I was producing. When I stopped thinking so much and just started feeling, I became a lot more satisfied with what I was doing. I became more confident in my work and I think something more real came out of that. I think a lot of artists get caught up in trying to manifest these certain concepts and then you lose the emotional aspects, and then people don’t connect. In the end, the art that I make, and want to make, I want to be accessible. I want it to be out there in the public realm as much as possible. I think to do that there has to be emotion and there has to be humor. 

The diet installation was done at the DKNY New Art City show which was based on the "Downtown" culture of NYC.

Is diet the only work you have done as a physical product?

Diet is the only thing that I have basically objectified. It was the first time I had to think about putting a price on a piece of art. That changed the way I was thinking for a bit, about the piece while I was making it. Most of what I do is experienced based. I am selling experiences and people will hire me as Matt Starr the artist, not, ‘We like this object,' or 'We like this painting can we have it? Can we buy it? Can we put this on the wall, or in our gallery?' It's more like, ‘Can you transform this space? Here’s your budget, this is what we are looking for.’ Diet was the first time I had to think about objects. How does the price reflect the people who can afford to buy it, who want to buy it, and the type of people that will be buying it. It was weird. It was the first thing I made that you could take home with you. I’m pretty happy though, that it included diet condoms and cigarettes.

@Kat_in_NYC

Kat Irlin is a Russian born photographer now based in NYC. She gained prominence in the photography world through her popular instagram, which now has over 460,000 followers.

Were you a photographer before instagram?

No.

What were you before?

Before instagram, I graduated school with a degree in finance. Then I did human resources for 10 years. 

What was the big change?

When I joined instagram, I started getting really positive feedback on my work. I have always loved photography but I was never a photographer. I started posting pictures of New York for the most part in the beginning. The feedback had been great and people were saying, ‘oh, you should be doing this full time.’ Kind of thing. So at that point I was over human resources and kind of sitting in one place, and I needed something where I could be running around and getting creative. A year ago, I decided to take the plunge and do photography full time.

"I think the way I see things is kind of interesting because I grew up in St. Petersburg, which is a very beautiful, very European city. As kids we were always in some museum, or watching a play, so I think that made a huge impact on how I see things."

"There are images of New York that sell, the Empire State Building, a skyscraper, a sunset, a vanishing point. These are the images that people are most engaged with and get the most likes."

What’s the major difference for you between shooting with your iphone and a professional camera?

I think it is the thought that you put into it. You can create great images with the iphone. It is more about what you are trying to communicate, or if you are trying to create or portray, or say something with your images. On instagram it is more about posting something pretty, like your coffee. 

So when was the shift moving from iphone to regular cameras?

I think it was more actually learning to use a camera. I had never really used a camera, so I think it was more about learning. Right now I shoot with a Fuji XE1, and it shows because you see all these other guys with huge cameras. I mean I have a Nikon D800, but I mostly shoot with this, so you see guys with all big cameras and me with my little camera like snapping in everybody’s way. So yeah, learning to use the camera, and then when I realized I was going to start treating instagram as my portfolio more, versus just a social media platform. So now, mostly what I post is from the camera.

Do you think the instagram following has changed since you became more professional?

I think my following in general appreciates a good image. For the most part I don’t post like HDR or super colorful, mostly black and white, so I think my following is more artsy. 

You are some what an ambassador to the city?

I mean, yeah I love New York. New York is my favorite city. It is sort of my muse I guess you could say. It is amazing. The energy, the people. The atmosphere is ever changing depending on the season, or the year, or the day. There is no city like it in the world. It continuously inspires me. 

Do you see yourself going towards more dynamic photography or sticking with stills?

Instagram can try and create all these different tools, and videos, but its not going to work on instagram. People do not care about video on instagram. You go through your feed and literally spend a second on each photo. It is much less engagement with video. I think it is always going to be a place for stills. 

"I try not to follow other photographers, so I can always come up with my own ideas and creations. There is a very fine line between plagiarizing and being inspired. I see so many posts inspired by @kat_in_nyc but I mean you are just copying my freaking idea. I guess its not an issue, I should be flattered or whatever."

How do you see fashion and social media coming together?

My job as a ‘journalist’ so to say, is to be able to portray the most interesting way, but still applying my aesthetic. I try to make my imagery different from everybody else’s as possible. I try to capture a different light or a different edit, or angle. So I treat those images as I treat everything else, I try to have sort of my stamp on it. So when someone sees an image they know it is mine. Trying to also portray the mood that was there, or what the designers were going for. 

Do you see yourself doing other things in the creative world?

Everybody has an iphone and is a photographer. I have a friend who has done journalism in war epicenters, but now with all the smart phones there is so much less need for that. I think the content it moving away from being generated by agencies, to being generated by people. It is moving in a different direction that way. I think for myself I would like to get into creative direction. I have a good visual sense, so do a campaign for a brand or something.

Advice for someone else?

Have your own style. Something people can recognize you for.

Credits:

interview by: Karin Bar, photography by: Kat Irlin (taken from instagram @kat_in_nyc)