MATT DRISSELL
  • About
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    • Contact Matt
  • Paintings
    • Of system of elements
    • Externalities
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    • Other Works
  • Works on Paper
    • Domestic Disturbance
    • The Flock
    • Morituri Te Salutant
    • Weeds
    • MFA Thesis Series

domestic disturbance

445 and 449 East First Street
2017
30 x 22 1/4”
Crushed walnuts and walnut ink on Arches watercolor paper
441 East 1st Street
2017
30 x 22 1/4”
Crushed walnuts and walnut ink on Arches watercolor paper
108 4th Avenue Southwest
2017
30 x 22 1/4”
Crushed walnuts and walnut ink on Arches watercolor paper
655 and 623 East First Street
2019
30 x 22 1/4”
Crushed walnuts and walnut ink on Arches watercolor paper
735 East First Street
2019
30 x 22 1/4”
Crushed walnuts and walnut ink on Arches watercolor paper
105 Sixth Avenue Southeast
2017
30 x 22 1/4”
Crushed walnuts and walnut ink on Arches watercolor paper
110 Fourth Avenue Northeast
2017
30 x 22 1/4”
Crushed walnuts and walnut ink on Arches watercolor paper
410 and 440 East First Street
2017
30 x 22 1/4”
Crushed walnuts and walnut ink on Arches watercolor paper
460 East First Street
2017
30 x 22 1/4”
Crushed walnuts and walnut ink on Arches watercolor paper
528 and 632 East First Street
2017
30 x 22 1/4”
Crushed walnuts and walnut ink on Arches watercolor paper
648, 708, and 708 B East First Street
2019
30 x 22 1/4”
Crushed walnuts and walnut ink on Arches watercolor paper
728 and 732 East First Street
2021
30 x 22 1/4”
Crushed walnuts and walnut ink on Arches watercolor paper
736 East First Street
2019
30 x 22 1/4”
Crushed walnuts and walnut ink on Arches watercolor paper
736 and 740 East First Street
2021
30 x 22 1/4”
Crushed walnuts and walnut ink on Arches watercolor paper
744 East First Street
2021
30 x 22 1/4”
Crushed walnuts and walnut ink on Arches watercolor paper
752 East First Street
2021
30 x 22 1/4”
Crushed walnuts, walnut ink, and ash from the Kuhl Barn on Arches watercolor paper
Next door to my home, there is a row of eleven black walnut trees. Late summer and throughout the fall, loud pops ring out as passing cars run over the walnuts that have fallen onto the street. My work is inspired by these incidents as I use a minivan to crush walnuts onto watercolor paper - the walnuts leave embossed stains, small bursts of ink that create an intense aesthetic artifact.

These stains are then juxtaposed with walnut ink drawings of houses and vehicles from my block. I live in a quiet and conservative corner of the upper Midwest, in Northwest Iowa, but recent political events have brought to light underlying disagreements and tensions. These crushed walnut street scenes are part of a series I have titled Domestic Disturbance which suggest there lies more beyond the idyll.
© 2023 Matt Drissell
  • About
    • News
    • Curriculum Vitae
    • Contact Matt
  • Paintings
    • Of system of elements
    • Externalities
    • Shelf Life
    • Other Works
  • Works on Paper
    • Domestic Disturbance
    • The Flock
    • Morituri Te Salutant
    • Weeds
    • MFA Thesis Series