Gordon Matta-Clark
Do you know Gordon Matta-Clark? He’s an artist with little connection to Japan, so many people may not even recognize the name. This time, I’d like to unpack Gordon Matta-Clark just a little.
Gordon Matta-Clark
June 22, 1943 – August 27, 1978 *died at 35 of pancreatic cancer
Gordon Matta-Clark was an artist active mainly in 1970s New York. Until his death at 35, his career as an artist was short-lived, lasting less than ten years.
Still, short as those ten years were, his range was wide: a multi-artist who branched into architecture, installation, sculpture, video, photography, drawing, street culture, and even restaurant management.
However, because much of Gordon’s activity and many of his works existed only temporarily, not much has been archived (preserved).
Creative Activity
Active on the stage of 1970s New York, Gordon Matta-Clark was skeptical of the existence called “the museum closed off from the outside world.” This can also be seen as an anti-establishment stance seeking to bore a hole into the authority of the “museum” and the institution of the “exhibition.”
That he was conscious of a display that engages with place can also be confirmed by his involvement in running the restaurant “FOOD.”
At the storefront of the restaurant “FOOD,” he reportedly also carried out actions leading to customer draw, such as performances of roasting a whole pig. His ability to attract people’s interest can be appreciated from the fact that he practiced it in various situations.
Perhaps Gordon’s awareness of real place lay in his focus on how a “community” is formed through the process of activity. Outside normal business hours, the interior of “FOOD” reportedly functioned as a kind of hangout for artists.
Gordon’s Catchphrase
I’d like to introduce an episode told by his widow, Jane Crawford, who came to Japan around the time of the Gordon Matta-Clark exhibition.
Gordon may have found meaning in raising questions.
Social Practice Artist
Mrs. Jane Crawford commented, “Gordon was practicing social practice from a time when the concept didn’t even exist.”
Approaches of art that engage with society are called by various names—participatory art, socially engaged art, social practice, and so on—but Gordon may have been the world’s earliest “social practice artist.”
“You Could do a better!〜You could do it better than me”
The message he repeated like a catchphrase may be a message Gordon left to us today.
Brief Chronology
1943
・June 22, born in New York with his twin brother Sebastian. His father is the world-renowned Surrealist painter Roberto Matta; his mother, also a painter, Anne Clark. The parents soon separated, and he spent his childhood in New York, Chile, and various parts of Europe with his mother and brother.
1962–68
・Studied architecture at Cornell University and literature at the Sorbonne in Paris.
1969
・Moved to New York.
Began presenting installations and performances on the theme of food and cooking. Thereafter became a central figure in the SoHo artist community.
1971
・Co-founded the restaurant “FOOD” together with fellow artists[–1973]
・Via Mexico and Peru, visited Chile, the homeland of his father Matta.
1972
・Created the building cut 《Bronx Floors》 in buildings around Manhattan, the Bronx, and Brooklyn.
1973
・Formed the “Anarchitecture Group” and held repeated meetings at “FOOD” and elsewhere.
・Began creating 《Graffiti Photoglyphs》 on the theme of graffiti, which had begun drawing attention in New York.
1974
・Purchased tiny plots of land auctioned off by New York City and presented them as the work 《Reality Properties: Fake Estates》.
・Created the building cut 《Splitting》, cutting a house in Englewood, New Jersey.
・From this year on, exhibited in many exhibitions in New York and across Europe and America, and carried out building cuts, performances, and more.
1975
・Created the building cut 《Day’s End》 in a warehouse at Pier 52 along the Hudson River. Because he did it without permission, he was prosecuted by New York City.
・Participated in the “Paris Biennale 1975.” Created the building cut 《Conical Intersect》, boring a conical hole into a 17th-century building slated for demolition to build the Centre Pompidou.
1976
・His brother Sebastian fell from the window of Matta-Clark’s studio and died.
1977
・Participated in “documenta 6” (Kassel), presenting the installation 《Jacob’s Ladder》 using a factory chimney.
・Created the building cut 《Office Baroque》 in Antwerp. Despite a movement to preserve it as a museum after completion, the building was demolished.
1978
・Accepting an offer from the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, created the building cut 《Circus》 in a building intended to become the museum’s annex.
・In May, married Jane Crawford.
・On August 26, died of pancreatic cancer (aged 35).
Asia’s First Solo Exhibition
Gordon Matta-Clark’s first solo exhibition in Asia was held in Tokyo in 2018. I’ve posted a report below; please refer to it if you like.
