Brain Goreng
An installation of paintings and audio by Matthew Thomas Shoemaker, who took his own life in August 2017
April 13 – May 18, 2018
In collaboration with Jack Straw, Dave Knott, and Robert Millis, the Shoemaker family presents an immersive installation of the paintings and audio Matthew Shoemaker created over the course of his too-short life. In addition, a replica of Shoemaker’s slinky/feedback experiments (he often used springs to both process his sounds and bring the audio environment around him into the emerging musical signal) will be displayed and activated to allow listeners a window into how he manipulated space and time.
For nearly two decades artist Matthew Shoemaker (Born 1974, Seattle, Washington, USA) explored the strange universe of sound and listening. Using microphones, digital and analog recorders, computers, modular synthesizers, acoustic instruments, and assorted signal processors, Shoemaker transformed music and noise into slowly unfolding compositions of beauty and intensity, reflective of his unique but troubled vision of the world. A painter since he was a small boy, the last two years had seen Matt devote himself again to painting with the same detail and intensity he brought to his audio work. “I just paint what I see” he once said, in his deceptively simple way. His audio work has been published on such esteemed labels as Trente Oiseaux (Germany), Helen Scarsdale Agency (USA), Ferns Recordings (France), Elevator Bath (USA), and Masters Chemical Society (USA). Beginning in 2010, he spent several years in Central Java studying the music, art, and culture of Indonesia and performing Gamelan. Brain Goreng, a play on the fried Indonesian food he loved, was the name of Matt’s website devoted to a complex mix of music from around the planet.
Education Projects
Brain Goreng: Paintings and Audio by Matthew Shoemaker
In May 2018, Jack Straw and Arts and Visually Impaired Audiences (AVIA) presented an accessible art workshop at Jack Straw in conjunction with the installation Brain Goreng, a collection of…
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Dave Knott
David Knott, MM, MT-BC is a board-certified music therapist, fellow in the Academy of Neurologic Music Therapy, instrument maker, improvisor and composer living and working in Seattle. In…
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Robert Millis
Robert Millis is a founding member of Climax Golden Twins, Messenger Girls Trio, and AFCGT. Solo or in collaboration he has composed soundtracks, worked with choreographers, created sound installations and…
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