Rogue Citizen was invited last week to participate in Gimme Shelter: A Benefit Concert for Haiti, sponsored by City Pages and Gimme Noise, featuring Mark Mallman and Solid Gold; other artists included DWITT, Chuck U and Anthem Heart. Proceeds went to the Red Cross Haiti Relief and Development Fund, and Architecture for Humanity. We painted live for the duration of the show, and in the end Evolution and Empire was auctioned for a lot more than we could have contributed ourselves.

Look for Rogue Citizen’s piece in Foot in the Door 4 at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts.

An ambitious collaboration is under way between myself and Pramila Vasudevan of Aniccha Arts, dramatically expanding the concept and scale of the media/performance piece “Words to Dead Lips” shown last November at Pillsbury House Theater in Minneapolis. Aniccha Arts’ website currently features a segment of that piece via youtube.

Many thanks to everyone who came out to catch Live Painting with Phantom Tails January 8th at the Nomad World Pub on the west bank in Minneapolis! Rogue Citizen will rise again with more live painting events this year…

Once a decade, there’s show that goes down at the Minneapolis Institute of Arts called Foot in the Door as part of the Minnesota Artist Exhibition Program. I’ll have a piece in there.

Join the crew Saturday, February 27th for the closing reception of Precious Bodily Fluids, a small exhibition of some of my recent work at Galactic Pizza. After 9:30, it’s a dollar off beer and wine!

Cheers,
Matt

It’s almost 2010.

January 1: Public Consumption is going down in Minneapolis. I don’t know if you’re ready for it. Over forty paintings are deposited all over the city. If you find one of these, look on the back of the piece for the “Public Consumption” logo, and contact Rogue Citizen with comments, photos, video, and critiques concerning where you found it, what happened to it; what you did with it. All of this information will go in to a short documentary by Sam Thompson to be presented at the next FEAST grant event in February. Check out the trailer for it, set to a killer tune from Phantom Tails…

January 8: Living Painting with Phantom Tails! The Nomad World Pub is going to host a night of great bands with the wonderfully psychotic Phantom Tails capping it off. Rogue Citizen artists will be painting on a 5×5ft canvas live all evening (for sale via silent auction), and a collection of our work will be on the walls there for the month. This event requires your attendance. It is not optional. Come at 7pm for the art opening, stay until your socks are rocked.

January 9: Galactic Pizza on Lyndale Avenue, everyone’s favorite local/organic high-flying superhero establishment, will be hosting an opening for an exhibition of my work there, Precious Bodily Fluids. Show up at 9pm for a dollar off brews!

Keep an eye out during the year for another Rogue Citizen project… Exquisite Robot.

If you are interested in commissioning illustration or design work, or custom paintings, please use the contact page on this site, or email lizardmanart@gmail.com, and feel free to give me a ring.

Cheers,
Matt

Thanks also to people who attended Late Nite at Pillsbury House Theater the same night.   My collaboration with Pramila Vasudevan of Aniccha Arts manifested in a multimedia/dance project titled Words to Dead Lips. A hell of a lot of work in a short amount of time was poured into building this surreal, post-war trauma narrative. The performance was received very well, and the groundwork is being laid for an expansion and re-imagining of the project into a full length project in 2010.

This upcoming weekend for the Holiday Art Sale at Carleton Place Lofts in St Paul.  The show will feature Thea Peltier, Angel Teske, Erik Pearson, Pat Garrahy, Natasha Poppe, Joshua M Murray, and Matt Wells.  I will have prints and original paintings there, and some new work; perfect for subversive gift-giving, and confusing the relatives.

Cheers,
Matt

This upcoming Saturday, November 14th, there are two big events in Minneapolis.

Northeast: FEAST is a unique arts grant opportunity. Two out of the fifteen proposals being considered at Saturday’s event are the brainchildren of a progressive group of emerging artists: Shawn Dalsen, Eric Mattheis, Matt McGorry and Matt Wells. Go to feastmpls.org and check out”Public Consumption” and “Foot Out the Door,” under the Current Proposals menu… Please attend if you can! 6pm – 10pm. $10-20 sliding scale donation.

South: LATE NITE at Pillsbury House Theater is featuring a collaborative multimedia performance from Pramila Vasudevan of Aniccha Arts, and Matt Wells, entitled “Words to Dead Lips”. 8pm – food / 9pm – performance. $12

Cheers,
Matt