Matthew Lusk

Lives and works in Newburgh, NY, USA

Artist statement

I work with what I've got, and what I can get ahold of. It's an economy that I'm accustomed to. Most everything is within arm's reach, if you get around often enough. There's plenty here to work with. It's a sustainability that comes from an ethic of conscientious consumption and a life of perennial financial desperation. I forget which came first, probably the ethic. Probably when I was a kid, waiting eagerly for another newsprint copy of the Earth First! newsletter and a packet of hard-to-remove stickers. Looking down offers a great perspective to find things cast away; to free the free things from footprints and dog urine. It's a perspective where the occasional glimpse up is greatly rewarding. Hammering out the wobbles in a used nail, straightening springs, untying knots worried tight with time, these are the habits of a busy mind. The careful ordering of previously chaotic mess, even if it is just a pile of unsorted wood screws, is my own personal arrangement of deck chairs. Looking down, reflected in the oily wastewater of a puddle, the normal American vernacular looks crooked like it should be.

Artwork