Matti Paints- Subject Tom

Painting Tom was an interesting prospect because we have a very affectionate relationship.
As a friend who was met at a bar through another friend, we have become very close in a fairly short amount of time.

All Smiles

Tom is very different from a lot of my friends, and I think that was evident right away as soon as he’d made his colour choices. Picking two primaries (Red and Yellow) and three shades (Black, White, and silver) is a risky choice, and I think in his own way he was challenging me. It was a good challenge though and it was interesting to get to work through colours that were so far out of my normal comfort zone.

You can't really see the black, but I swear it was used.

I really felt like Tom was reaching out to me in this painting. His song choices were songs that were from my most played list, that he also had a say in. Together, the songs were a binding force as if to say, remember this?

Yes all of these are in my most played songs list. I am not ashamed.

In many ways me and Tom are quite similar, although at the same time, very different people. My spectrum and his spectrum are vastly different but having the common colours and songs was comforting in a way.

Song 1

Song 4

Song 5 - I like how it looked like angel wings

Song 9

Artist positioning the Canvas

It was an enjoyable paint. This one in particular was unusual but in a very good way.
Despite myself, I know I’ve placed up walls between me and Tom. But through this process I like to think that I’ve got a chance to reconnect with him. I hope that I’ve portrayed him as I see him: Strong, vibrant and brave.
So... Presenting Tom

Matti Paints- Subject Sarah

Painting Sarah was a very different experience from painting Wes.

We have always had a very playful relationship based off of inside jokes and making coffee. The first time we ever got to know each other was drinking in a park over a case of Lambchop’s Playalong. It was a fun night full of fond memories and has lead to one of the most beautiful and exciting friendships I have ever had.
It was no surprise that she said yes to help me with this project, but what was exciting were certain things like the choice of music and the colour choices.

For instance the colour choices she made (Pink, lime green, blue, purple and silver) are all colours reflective of an exciting and party-centered mindset. I joked how the pink and green are natural choices for a child of the early ninties. She joked about Lambchop. Our friendship came full circle. (As it so often does)
Starting the painting was actually a lot of fun. There was a very different mood in this project. She was excited to see what I would create and we were both enjoying the experience. (We also decided that having a screwdriver before would be an excellent choice. I concurred...)

When  the drinks were poured

By the time we had started (mines the one that's been drank from)

Mind you, it did take a while to get to that point. By the time I had poured the drinks, set up the paint choices, set up the ‘studio’ and prepped my brushes... she had picked out three songs. But patience paid off, and we actually had a really amazing time exploring this aspect together.

This was our playlist. It was a good time.

I really had no idea what sort of painting would appear when all was said and done. About halfway through I was worried that the human canvas project would have a terrible entry... and then I remembered what our friendship was based on. She trusted me and as a result I gave into the sense of fun that is so indicative of who we are as a couple. I remembered the good times, the parties, the discussions on the patios and the entire experience became lighthearted and exciting. I experimented. We laughed. We played and a sense of fun overcame us.

The start

Song 1

Song 2

Song "Lets party"

Song "Looks like a claw above my eye"

Song 7

Song "Wait... we only have one song left?"

Song "maybe we can cheat and use 11 songs..."

There is a sense of perfection that is lacking in this piece which I feel is a perfect fit for us. We’re both a bit chaotic with a history of excitement and enjoyment. There was also a heavy sense of love in this piece. Whether it was the light colours, or the shared experiences that have solidified this friendship, it was certainly an enjoyable experience and one I shall remember until I have one too many screwdrivers.
So may I present: Sarah

Matti Paints: Subject Wes

    Me and Wes have a very giving and loving friendship, so he was the obvious first choice for my art project.

This is Subject Wes: Note that it is Groundhog day again

    Right away, from the first stroke I knew that there was something very special about this experience. Painting on someones body has a magical quality about it that I’ve never felt before. There is a palpable amount of trust involved, and an unspoken yet understood agreement that in the end, they are giving you their vulnerability in exchange for a work of art.
    When I first set out on this project I wasn’t anticipating the sheer amount of feelings that go through you as you begin. We started out joking around about the coldness of the brush, but as the work began to take shape, there grew an almost serious quality to the painting.

After Song 2

After Song 4

Close to the end

    I think it started with his colour choices. What was so interesting about them was they were almost the exact colours I would choose. I’m a huge fan of red and blue contrast, and the fact that he chose them meant that it would create a palate I was familiar and eager to work with. Since it’s been so long since my last painting, I appreciated this. However, there is a significant emotional overtone to the colours he picked.

Note: Colours not colors.

Three warm colours: red, orange and pink; followed by two cold colours: blue and teal. The interesting fact was that orange and teal are about as removed as you can get from each other on the colour wheel, while blue, red and purple are all very complimentary. As a result I knew the green would be the odd colour out, and as a result I am left to wonder if Wes knew he was doing this intentionally, or if it was simply the luck of the draw. I wonder if he even realizes how significant that is. Without the green to contrast the other colours the piece would run the risk of being too boring. With it, Wes showed a dangerous, almost rebellious side that gave the piece a level of interest that would have otherwise been lacking.
    As the painting continued a few really interesting things happened. We became silent. I became obsessed with the painting and Wes became contemplative. I’m not sure if he was being quiet for any particular reason, but at a certain point he really did become a human canvas. The music choices also helped to ease and relax the two of us as I worked.  As the painting continued, the songs became more and more melancholic and I soon realized that it was having an effect on both of our moods and the painting itself. His character began to show through as reflective and pensive. It began to reflect, especially in the facial region.

This was his playlist. The last song to play was "How He Loves". Hard to get more deep than that.

    In the end his character was revealed as vibrant, strong and reflective. A man emboldened with wisdom and a history of pain, but with a resolve to move forward.
This is his portrait.

Wes Response:

"I am most grateful to have had this "conversation" with Matti and the results from the future "voices"and to see how their conversations turn to out... to see the resulting colourful conversation."

"The time and space given for the process was quite meaningful in itself. I can't say I've ever been able to engage in a project as provoking with a friend before, however it is one that will be cherished"

Love Like a Rabble

The first draft of a poem I wrote for poetry class. One of my first experimental pieces turned out to by one of my favorites. I'll find the full version and attach it later. I think it might be interesting to see exactly what changed in a poem so chaotic.

Love Like a Rabble – Matti McLean

Love like a hurricane whips past the world as it turns and it spins without ending, before the sunrise that sets on the land that was dark but will brighten the day of the vampires that play in the shadows of the moon and the branches that grow from the ground that was burnt and will die when the daylight returns from its sleep at the end of the world where the sun and the sky will be one in the night that was day before everything happened when the man took the apple and he ate from the snake that once said that it suffered without end from the fact that it's face never left the ground that was lush and the grass that was grey before dying and growing green to the clouds that were white as the snow that was falling from heaven that burnt up the ashes that flew through the air from the fires that burned in the ocean that churned like a cauldron as it bubbled from heat as the witch burned the bible that created the gas that would choke out the earth as it died in a puddle of global warming from the suicide of fighter planes that crashed in the ocean aiming at the ships that were firing their weapons in a harbour of pearls that were created from grains of sand in the mouths of the oysters of parliament who signed their documents with the blood of the trees and declared themselves superior from the dark-skinned brother who fought with their riots and rap music and jeans that hung low so that you could see their boxers made from the cotton the white man picked from the gardens with trees of knowledge that declared themselves worthy of a god who wasn't listening to the rabble that erupted from the voices of thousands who cared about themselves and the fact that he said the worlds that created the bang that happened when the world began but ended when the church declared itself king of the monkeys and queen of the painters who painted the pictures of nothing but skies filled with stars that were black as the canvas that was used on the sails of ships that the pirates sailed through arches of bones and the mussels that clung to the support under the waves of the rum that was drank by the virgins who climbed up the mountains and bypassed the forests that grew without knowledge of the bulldozers that would come and collect up the people and place them in factories and mark them with stars as the red rain spewed from the chambers where the gas of perfection choked out the Jewish and echoed the screams of a thousands Egyptians when they woke up to find that their tables were empty because someone had left the door open and their kitty cats went out into the dessert and dug up the nation that was hiding for centuries before anyone could push it back into the abyss of despair which was threatening to overtake the capitalists inside of the whale that was spit up and broken by beavers who could chew through concrete and the wires that connected the homes to each other in a way that allowed them to mate with themselves to the pictures of vixens on television that would coo for their money that would come from the soiled hands of thousands of men who would drink up their beers and admire their guts that were bloated from lack of broccoli and food that the other nations demanded for the starving people who were eatting their gold fish and placing their money in ponds where the people swam and sank to the bottom of the Titanic which would sail the seas of indifference when ice would accumulate on the rudders and burn through the pride that sunk a city of people who persisted that there was nothing wrog with caviar and ate with the others who thought that the fur that they wore came from the men who they slept with in orgies of slugs on beds made from roses and barbed wire that would strangle the legs of Nike who soared through the skies behind Icarus and Elijah's flaming horses that burnt out the ozone and left us with a hole to the heavens that lets the sun shine in to the tune of ice tea being stirred while our bubble rap economy continues moving forward like a steam train made of warthogs who look in the mirror and ask themselves why they can't be pretty like the zebras that hunted the lions in the office building where predators fight aliens while Arnold takes off his shirt and yells for the slap chop to come and pierce his aeorta which was the answer to the question on Jeopardy that asked them to answer for their leaders about what they should do about the wars in Korea and the problem with bed bugs who are making their homes in the hair of the homeless who sleep in the corners of buildings that fell when the earthquakes erupted in streets full of vendors who sell off their street meat that was crafted from the bones of the victims of the attacks of the thunder god who fell from the heavens and struck at the natives who would pray for redemption to the church that was built upon twin towers and the mosque around the corner that was bombed by a terrorist who claimed himself to be gods favourite Buddhist ever to die in the name of love.