Hello, friends! This month, I have a special guest, Matthew Müller, joining us to lead our group design prompt. He’s one of my favorite artists, and I feel so lucky to have his work hanging in our house. He also happens to be a dear friend! I’m confident that you will be inspired by his beautiful work below. I can’t wait to participate in this prompt… take it away, Matthew!
Hihi! My name is Matthew Müller. I’m the type of person who always has 2-5 different projects going on at any given time (and most are passion projects). I worked at a brand consultancy for 14 years, where I led the Design arm of the business, and currently, I’m working with Ace Hotel Group, leading all things creative. Art and design have always been defining pillars to who I am. Over the past 10 years or so, I have fallen in love with mixed media assemblage, aka collaging.
There are so many reasons why I see collaging not only as a form of art, but also a way of living/being. The act of assemblage is in the DNA of graphic design, so you might say my love for it is research or a history project. Collage is also ecological by nature, it’s about taking something that already exists and giving it a new purpose; new life. In a lot of ways, that’s what designers do every day. We collect, edit, rearrange, and reinterpret.
When we alter the context or juxtapose an object with something unfamiliar to our understanding of it, it becomes something totally new. A representational photograph can now become a color field. A geometric pattern transforms into an ethereal plane. Honestly, the sky’s the limit and that’s what is so cool.
Collaging forces you to work with what is in front of you. Some of my favorite materials come from thrift stores, recycling bins, or stacks of forgotten magazines. There’s something satisfying about giving those fragments a second life instead of chasing the perfect source material. Making peace with the pieces.
The Challenge:
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