MATT AMATO - CALIFORNIA.USA

08 FEBRUARY 2010

Written by CAMILLE NAVARRO

       Matt Amato is a pretty lucky guy. He gets to do what he loves with a lot of exceptional people.

REAL LOVE Film still [2010]               

You may not have heard his name before, but you may have seen some of his work. He has collaborated with Bon Iver, as well as many other up and coming bands as a part of the collective company THE MASSES. He is best known for the Bon Iver video “Wolves Act 1 and 2,” which almost never happened. Just as they reached the spot in the woods where the video was to be filmed, Matt got a call saying that a friend of his had been tragically killed. The next few hours were spent deciding whether to go home or whether to plow through and shoot the video. The result was a beautiful piece of film perfectly matched to an apt and moving soundtrack – not just a music video, but a personal and emotional portrait of a man coping with the loss of a friend.
 

REAL LOVE Film still [2010]               

Much of Matt’s work has a feeling of intimacy to it. He takes very personal moments and filters them through the camera, making the viewer a part of a beautiful moment of introspection, or loneliness, or peace. He really does cut to the heart of his subject and in the process magically dissolves what is ugly or unsatisfying about the world we live in. Every moment is pregnant with possibilities – and as anyone who has waited anxiously for something can tell you, anticipation is almost always more exciting and beautiful than the event itself. How wonderful to live in that limbo for five or six minutes and watch the moments unfold!

REAL LOVE Film still [2010]               

Besides being ever-busy behind the camera with THE MASSES, Matt Amato also has some gallery installments in the works. The one currently on display at Blythe Projects in Los Angeles is a video installment entitled Real Love. In this piece, Matt has taken video clips of his own family and set them to a lovely, haunting song by Beach House. After having seen this installment, you feel as if you have seen your own family in a way you wish they had been. I left the room moved, feeling like an Amato… perhaps it is no accident that the artist’s surname is the Italian word for ‘loved.’

REAL LOVE Film still [2010]               

You can see the installment at Blythe Projects, 5795 W. Washington Blvd., Culver City CA 90034

http://www.wearethemasses.com
http://www.artslant.com/la/artists/show/130694-matt-amato