Today we’d like to introduce you to Matt Albert.
Matt, let’s start with your story. We’d love to hear how you got started and how the journey has been so far.
From very early on, I have always been interested in art. Grew up skateboarding and that was definitely a big influence on me. I was always drawn to the clever, subversive nature of the illustrations in skateboard artwork. In school, I was always obsessively drawing the little characters in the margins of my schoolwork. I went to Auburn University and decided to and pursue a degree in Graphic Design, returned to ATL and began working at a small agency. My work was not so fulfilling sometimes so I began drawing again in my free-time more and more, just as an outlet at the end of a tough (or boring) day.
Eventually, my drawings started creeping into my Instagram account and a few people took notice and I gained some follows. I thought, “Alright cool, lets see where this goes…” and just began posting more art more frequently. It cannot be understated how important social media channels like Instagram are for getting your art in front of an audience who may not have known you or your work previously existed. I definitely canʼt see my art becoming what it has without the opportunities afforded to starving artists through social media. It was around this time that an old friend of mine from college, who runs a local bar, hit me up asking if I had any interest in doing a solo art show at his bar. I remember saying “Ha, you think anyone would actually buy it?” His response was “Well, I would!”
And that was good ‘nuff for me! – I said yes and accepted the challenge. I still wasnʼt sure about it and I definitely was not feeling abundantly confident about it – more nervous than anything. I had participated in an art show since college – and I definitely had not thought about the opportunity to sell any of my artwork previously. Well, the night came and went – and it went better than I could have ever expected. I sold almost all of the pieces that I had worked so hard on that night. I was genuinely amazed that so many people wanted to fork over their hard-earned cash in exchange for taking my artwork home with them. And it was a feeling that I was excited to experience again as soon as possible.
To all of the people that came out years ago, on that first opening night, and bought something – I sincerely thank you and you may never know the truly profound impact you had on myself as an artist. I felt vindicated in my new direction. People were very receptive to my first show, I met so many great people and throughly enjoyed talking and joking around with everyone in attendance. After that show, I was locked and loaded and ready to see where this thing goes.
Around the same time – I was cutting my teeth in the Atlanta art scene through Free Art Friday as well, which I would definitely recommend to any artist, at any skill level. I had previously found and collected a few other local artistʼs pieces by luck, coming across them in the city and I was drawn to the “hunting” aspect of the scene. I dropped my first few pieces and literally hid in the bushes nearby, people starting showing up within 10 minutes after I posted it – I thought it was insane. After I dropped my first three or so FAFATL pieces – I witnessed two people literally running across a field for the same piece! I felt like I was onto something and people really did want to find my stuff.
In fact, a couple of people who were bummed bc theyʼd been unsuccessful in finding any pieces, actually inquired whether or not they could just buy a piece instead. Around this time it became clear that people would indeed happily pay for my art and I didnʼt have to give it all away. So thanks to FAFATL, for making me feel the love many years ago. 2016 was a big year for me. I was searched out on the olʼ internet by Pabst Blue Ribbon when they were looking to hire a local Atlanta artist to promote their upcoming inaugural Project Pabst, an arts/music fest, hosted in East Atlanta Village.
I was beside myself with excitement and told them I would be absolutely stoked to work on the project. I felt lucky to be chosen and I wanted to do ‘em proud! Long story short, my art was featured on the can of 250K (holy shit!) six-packs of PBR tallboys and sold all around the Atlanta area in both stores and restaurants for 3 months leading up to the even. Working with their local team we produced flyers, posters, shirts, koozies, even massive stage banners – the whole 9 yards. This was an epic experience for me – because by work had never been so visibly prominent and accessible. I covet my collection of merch I kept from that special event.
I was pitched by Mizuno not long after that. One of the local managers was sitting at a restaurant in Decatur one day, imbibing in more than a few cans of aforementioned PBR, featuring my Project Pabst artwork. He inquired about the unknown artist at Homegrown, our local neighborhood art shop in Decatur (love yʼall), and an employee on duty pointed him in my direction! Fast-forward to me designing their exclusive 2017 Mizuno Peachtree Road Race tank top that was sold through the Atlanta Track Club and local running specialty shops around town. Frigginʼ awesome opportunity.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
The main issue I struggle with, and I believe most creators would echo, is time management. Iʼve always been kind of a free-spirit and I truly struggle to stick to a schedule, hell, any routines in general (just ask my lovely girlfriend). But Iʼve also become aware that when you donʼt have enough hours in the day – you can make up for it with a late night grind session. Iʼve been powered by coffee way past midnight many, many nights. And I have no reservations confessing that I have struggled with depression for awhile now, it’s been a hard road at times.
Most of the struggles Iʼve faced have been internal problems that tend to stop my productivity in my tracks. Iʼve been working more on my art, establishing my “new normal” since I lost my mother to brain cancer last May. Art has really become a form of therapy to me, more than ever before. Now, I can block everything and focus on creating something from nothing. Setting aside the time for myself to get lost in my art is something that is quite valuable to me these days. Iʼve learned that it is important for me to “get in & get out” when it comes to new illustration work. I donʼt mean to carelessly rush through anything – what I mean is that Iʼve learned that I tend to get bored easily.
Iʼm also a little overly obsessive in regards to my art habits. Iʼve noticed that both of those are really poison to my process. So while I have progressed as an artist, I have tended to work more swiftly, more judiciously while drawing looser – in an attempt to keep it feeling fresh. It helps me to keep myself interested in seeing something through until I can put my stamp on it and finally call it complete. Otherwise, I tend to start to think itʼs just a stupid idea altogether, taking way too damn long, not quite the way I saw it in my head, etc. and because of that – I would have little to no output to share with the world. No bueno.
Iʼve met some of the most supportive people through the art scene here. Unfortunately, Iʼve also learned the hard way that not everyone plays nice. Some people will tell you what you want to hear in order to get you in their corner.
Fortunately, I havenʼt dealt with too many – but, there are snakes in the grass everywhere I suppose. But all that aside, all I really care about at the end of the day is making people happy with my art. The feeling I get when a customer buys something Iʼve made, takes it home and wants to look at it every single day is amazing. That, and repeat customers – always incredible to learn that people have bought pieces from me previously, and they enjoyed them so much that they now possess a personal collection of numerous artworks Iʼve made. Yʼall knows who you are – and I canʼt thank you enough, really.
Please tell us about MattAlbert84.
I am pretty sure known around Atlanta as that “Dirty South” artist guy. Well that, or Matt, and maybe even the weird guy with the beard. Anyways, the whole Dirty South thing just sort of naturally evolved from a very simple idea. I think my first piece that really grabbed people was “Riding Dirty”. I did a couple more illustrations revolving around the ‘Dirty Southʼ and Atlanta subculture. The response and attention grew, and I figured “What the hell, this is fun – I can carve out a niche, letʼs run with it”. From there, I just kept going back to the well for more ideas of what to draw next that would keep my self-initiated theme rolling. I found it engaging and challenging to keep stirring up new depictions of the city around us.
Well, it’s been about four years now and I am still putting out new art related to Atlanta and the ‘Dirty Southʼ – sometimes I am afraid I am scraping the bottom of the barrel – but I am still constantly making notes in my phone about new ideas to sketch up later that night. Letʼs just say my long list of ideas never gets any shorter, Iʼll write something down – think on it for awhile and come back to it later with a plan of attack. I specialize in printed, hanging woodcuts. I wanted to produce something that stood out from the crowd – something that someone could purchase and immediately proudly hang up in their own space. I think the curvy, organic nature of the cuts and bold colors in my wood pieces make for more interesting forms when theyʼre displayed as wall art.
Things really picked up for me when my girlfriend, Raechel, saw a missed opportunity with the way I was choosing to operate this so-called side business of mine – so she set up my online Etsy store and we began to tell interested folks at events that my work is available online – that was a huge moment in my journey, and really obvious now, but it was the catalyst that set this whole legit “artist” effort in motion. These days I am shipping pieces at least a few times a month – sometimes across the country. Heck, one even ended up in Brazil! Aside from these seemingly endless woodcuts, I produce stickers, magnets and pins. My artwork is also available for purchase on apparel and other merchandise through my online Threadless store.
It feels damn good to say that I have really come into my own unique style in recent years and I can both feel and see myself pushing forward. My line work has become noticeably bolder and heavier as I have progressed, but Iʼve grew much more comfortable with my personal style overall. When I began illustrating, I would nit-pick over the stroke thicknesses in the inking – so much so, that I would become frustrated and either drag it out until I ultimately hated it or worse still, Iʼd abandon it and leave it unfinished. For as long as I could remember, Iʼve been bearing down on my paper and writing (carving) quite firmly.
I just accepted that I have a “heavy hand” when I draw and one day I decided to just embrace it. It took a while, but I loosened up, realized perfection had become my worst enemy and went for it. And I would stress it to any other artists struggling with defining their own style, – relax, just donʼt take yourself so seriously and try and have more fun with it. Your style will undoubtedly reveal itself if you just stick with it and keep creating. Now, I think the fact that I draw my lines with such unapologetically, thick strokes has become one of the most recognizable traits in my artwork.
If you had to go back in time and start over, would you have done anything differently?
Iʼve learned that it is important for me to “get in & get out” when it comes to new illustration work. I donʼt mean to carelessly rush through anything – what I mean is that Iʼve learned that I tend to get bored easily. Iʼm also a little overly obsessive in regards to my art habits. Iʼve noticed that both of those are really poison to my process.
So while I have progressed as an artist, I have tended to work more swiftly, more judiciously while drawing looser – in an attempt to keep it feeling fresh. It helps me to keep myself interested in seeing something through until I can put my stamp on it and finally call it complete.
Otherwise, I tend to start to think itʼs just a stupid idea altogether, taking way too damn long, not quite the way I saw it in my head, etc. and because of that – I would have little to no output to share with the world. No Bueno.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.mattalbert84.com
- Email: matthewalber@gmail.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mattalbert84/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MattAlbert84-574151892708834/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/MattAlbert84
- Others: https://www.etsy.com/shop/MattAlbert84 / https://mattalbert84.threadless.com/
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