--- type: interview number: 18 title: Randi Matushevitz date_recorded: 2021-06-23 date_published: 2021-07-06 video_id: Jb-J_QTgufM url: "https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jb-J_QTgufM" duration_seconds: 3349 moderator: null interviewee: Randi Matushevitz interviewer: Roz Dimon speakers: - name: Randi Matushevitz country: Los Angeles CA USA start: None - name: Roz Dimon country: null start: None transcript_source: whisper-large-v3 languages: ["en"] --- ## Roz Dimon [00:00](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jb-J_QTgufM&t=0s) Recording. Hello, my name is Roz Dimon. Today is June 23rd. It's Wednesday at one o'clock and I am here to interview Randi Matushevitz and we're coming across from different sides of the United States. I'm in Shelter Island near New York City and she is, I believe, in Los Angeles and a few words first. This is an interview for the Techspressionist, Techspressionism.com series and I'd say just a few words about myself first. I've been a painter who's accidentally been involved in digital media since 1984 when my paintings filled with pixels and I've been in it ever since and it's really been exciting to be part of this new group Techspressionism.com and meet people who are interested in digital media and I'm really excited to be part of this new group of artists who are doing really interesting work but enough about me and Techspressionism.com. I want to just say a few words and there are many other things so check out her website and look at her work after this interview. A few things about Randi Matushevitz here. Randi Matushevitz is an American multidisciplinary artist based in Los Angeles. Her installations, paintings, and mixed media drawings have been exhibited at the Texas Art Gallery in Los Angeles. She has been a part of the Texas Art Gallery for over a decade. She has exhibited and collected nationally and internationally. Her artwork is found in the permanent collections of the Museum of Art and History in Lancaster, California, Cleveland Clinic, Las Vegas, the Las Vegas Art Museum at the Marjory Barrick Museum of Art, University of Nevada, Las Vegas, and Inter Art Foundation in Berlin. Recently, Matushevitz has traversed into digital media. Remember she started out as a multidisciplinary artist, taking her urban Baroque vision into a time-based platform that has recently been projected onto the Helms Design Center in Los Angeles, California. Welcome, Randy. Thanks, Roz. Hi. Hi, everybody. It's great to be here with you today. Let's just start, if we could, for a few minutes. If you could just tell us maybe a little about your background. You know, what's your background? What's your background? What's your background? Where you were born, where you live and practice now, cultural influences and otherwise. And if at any point, we can always go maybe with the next question where what made you into an artist. At any point, we can have you share the screen and go into your work. But let's just start right here. ## Randi Matushevitz [02:44](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jb-J_QTgufM&t=164s) Let's start here. That sounds great. It's a rare opportunity to get to talk about where you come from. Yeah. So I come from first generation immigrants in New York, immigrants and a Jewish perspective. So, you know, and I grew up in New York, upstate New York, Miami, Las Vegas, and I've lived lots of places. I've lived them twice, lived everywhere twice. So wow, growing up, like, you know, that typical, like, north, south, and then west kind of trajectory, we wound up in Las Vegas in 1976, which was really a culture shock. And I'm talking about this, because I think this diverse information at a young age, from East Coast to West Coast, from, you know, like a New York family, real New Yorkers, Brooklights, right? And moving to- That is a lot for a young age. That's a, yeah, it's a pretty broad spectrum. Right. And then, you know, it wound up in Las Vegas, which was maybe 250,000 people at that time. Really? It was very small in the 70s. And this cowboy culture, it was the first time I saw women with curlers out in public. I swear, I don't know how else to explain it. It was like a culture shock, because East Coast, you wouldn't dare, you know, unless you had like a really fancy covered scarf. ## Roz Dimon [04:10](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jb-J_QTgufM&t=250s) If it was Hollywood, though, they're the Hollywood types, right? But I mean, yeah. ## Randi Matushevitz [04:15](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jb-J_QTgufM&t=255s) But still, right? So this already set that platform for this, this, how people are different, this geography, this and this thinking that is in even within our own country, geography. You know, as I look back, it was a great experience for the work I do now. So it wasn't until college that I decided that art found me. And then I decided I was very much in the sciences and thought I would pursue chemistry. School and college was really hard. I wasn't good at executive functioning, all those things. People- hyper artistry. And I didn't know what this might go through. And what captivated me about art at this time, I had, there was no art in the school in Las Vegas in the middle school or high school. ## Unattributed [05:06](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jb-J_QTgufM&t=306s) Now were you in Los Angeles? ## Roz Dimon [05:08](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jb-J_QTgufM&t=308s) Where were you? ## Randi Matushevitz [05:09](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jb-J_QTgufM&t=309s) I was in Las Vegas. ## Roz Dimon [05:10](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jb-J_QTgufM&t=310s) Oh, I'm sorry. I think I confused that. So when you said 250,000 ## Unattributed [05:16](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jb-J_QTgufM&t=316s) Or- That's Las Vegas. ## Roz Dimon [05:17](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jb-J_QTgufM&t=317s) Oh, excuse me. I had that wrong. So I'm apologizing. That's not okay. Absolutely not. That's a picture. ## Randi Matushevitz [05:24](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jb-J_QTgufM&t=324s) You know what this strip is? Right. It's a picture of everything. You know, in Vegas, it's still everything, but it's much the suburban, millions of people now, you know? Yes. And we watched that grow. So it was really a hick town with a big street. You know what I mean? That is very interesting. Yeah. And that's, we moved from a city to a town. And at that time, I didn't realize how small of a city Miami was compared to like New York and LA even then. Right? Yeah. So back to college, you know, it doesn't matter if I was in Arizona. I was in Arizona or eventually in Los Angeles. I moved around. And I think for whatever reasons, trying to find where I fit, no one asked me to think about those questions before. And this is all very important to when I became an artist. So in undergrad, it was the old masters, X-rays of the old masters that really made me feel that I can do this because they change things. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Oh that was nice to hear your voice. ## Roz Dimon [06:26](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jb-J_QTgufM&t=386s) Did you take art history? How did you know about the old masters? Did you take art history or did you just saying drawing figurative drawing one? ## Randi Matushevitz [06:34](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jb-J_QTgufM&t=394s) Oh, so you did switch into art you made this take art drawing classes like as an extra elective and this kind of thing? Yes. So that gives you the history like I kind of history of culture shock and everything. Once I decided to learn to draw, I had no skills. Color was the only thing. It just happened over lots of years, lots of live model drawing, lots of painting, and a lot of work. And I had the bug, and it was going to be who I was, to be followed by continuing my education and eventually showing right out of grad school in New York. I was in grad school in Miami. You continued in art. I continued in art. ## Unattributed [07:20](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jb-J_QTgufM&t=440s) Oh, yeah. ## Randi Matushevitz [07:22](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jb-J_QTgufM&t=442s) And not knowing what I would do with that, thinking I always have a day job. So I think I had decent office skills. ## Roz Dimon [07:30](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jb-J_QTgufM&t=450s) But you were bit by the passion of the old masters, and then when you got into it, you just didn't look back? ## Randi Matushevitz [07:38](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jb-J_QTgufM&t=458s) I didn't look back. I was bitten by the X-rays of the old masters. And the way this teacher taught me. He taught you how to see space. He would tie strings to models so you could see the space. He gave you things to think about, like a science experiment of a way you're going to approach making these marks or color or composition or it goes on, the formals. And I really didn't have control over these things until grad school. Honestly. I had some skills, but nothing exciting. And in grad school, I found my voice. Really found my handling of materials. And it was the introduction to screen printing which made me, which affects the work I make today the most, I think. Because when I do the digital work, I'm working in flat screens. Which I have this sense of because of preparing screens and multi-reduction screen printing. Preparing layers. Okay. So that's a big, long story. So the influences, just to say what are they artistically. I am an expressionist. I love the darker the better. I think there's something very Jewish in my work that I respond to the sublime and the grotesque, the hard stuff. Especially the social media that we don't show. So Goya. And then coming forward, it's Bacon and Kollitz and Kondo. And right now I'm in Cindy Sherman. So we're working with her on this project. The history of her work is blowing my mind now that I'm currently doing this deeper dive into what I thought I knew about her. Especially after her digital work. Such a kindred something for ## Roz Dimon [09:22](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jb-J_QTgufM&t=562s) Me. Certainly there's a macabre and she's not just on the surface there. Even though she deals with the surface too in an interesting way. ## Randi Matushevitz [09:32](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jb-J_QTgufM&t=572s) And I love old movies, black and white movies. I love noir. You know, so finally on this moment, all of these interests with skills are coming together. And the digital came to me, like we were saying, very recently, just last summer on my phone, which, you know, we have talked about. ## Roz Dimon [09:51](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jb-J_QTgufM&t=591s) How recently did you start a digital? Like, it's been a, how long, when did you start doing digital work? ## Randi Matushevitz [09:59](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jb-J_QTgufM&t=599s) May, June? Wow. ## Unattributed [10:00](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jb-J_QTgufM&t=600s) April, May, June? Wow. ## Randi Matushevitz [10:03](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jb-J_QTgufM&t=603s) Oh, that's so interesting. A year later, I've been able to show some of the videos, well, you know, in two galleries. I think we should go to your, I think we should, you should share your screen, though. And we can still go back. Remind me to touch on things, please, that I'm not touching on. Because I think this will, will really. ## Roz Dimon [10:26](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jb-J_QTgufM&t=626s) I feel like there's a big gap. You went to school. We don't have to know everything, of course. But it seems like there's a gap. And you found your voice. And yet, it sounds to me like you found, like, this is almost like a new renaissance for you or something. Like, you're in a whole, you found it, you're finding your voice in a way that's in a big way and in a second sort of knowing yourself in this new medium. Yes or no? Yes. ## Randi Matushevitz [10:50](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jb-J_QTgufM&t=650s) Yes. Because when I started in New York, and I'm not going to show these images, but before I go on, just to, because I will show an installation. It was very much still about human nurturing, human connection. I think this is the overarching theme to my work. ## Roz Dimon [11:06](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jb-J_QTgufM&t=666s) Was your work figurative? Or was it just, those were the concerns? Was it, I don't know. ## Randi Matushevitz [11:12](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jb-J_QTgufM&t=672s) No, those were the concerns. My original shows were, you know, 1,500 baby bottles in a gallery filled with nine-inch nails. I built tables. You know, you are what you eat. You are, you know, and like looking for the ways we're the same. You know, and how we're still babies from bottle to water bottle. ## Roz Dimon [11:31](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jb-J_QTgufM&t=691s) Sounds like that was almost very strongly from a conceptual point of view. ## Randi Matushevitz [11:36](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jb-J_QTgufM&t=696s) Very much. I'm sorry I'm not showing those. They are on my website. That's fine. If people want to go look. Which is okay. ## Unattributed [11:41](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jb-J_QTgufM&t=701s) That's fine. I'm just. ## Randi Matushevitz [11:42](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jb-J_QTgufM&t=702s) RandyBesheba.com. So I thought I'd start with this installation. So I know there's a big gap because there's a lot of tripping over myself. And I've been very fortunate that early work, when I say early, late 90s, early 2000s, I had these conceptual installations. I had soft sculpture and they traveled. I had travel. I had a traveling show that went for two and a half years through Latin America. And then there was a big quiet, even though I had my first museum in the States at the time. You know, there was a lot of in between on this journey. So this show is my first installation in Los Angeles, where you could see this, all these skills coming together in these large mixed media drawings and installation space of conundrum. And I had music composed. ## Roz Dimon [12:30](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jb-J_QTgufM&t=750s) And when is this? If we can get a date on where we are. ## Randi Matushevitz [12:33](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jb-J_QTgufM&t=753s) March 2 of 2018. So these, so this installation, you would enter in this fence and you were blocked. You had to go right or left and the music was whirring. And it was a very dystopic moment where I want, where I was looking for our soul in my neighborhood, the homelessness, as you've heard in Los Angeles. ## Roz Dimon [12:54](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jb-J_QTgufM&t=774s) Don't go too fast because we want to actually, we actually want to see these. And I think we need to like just ponder them for a minute. Well, tell me if you want me to go back. I'm open. ## Randi Matushevitz [13:03](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jb-J_QTgufM&t=783s) I'm just really quick because it's just. Go to the beginning. Yeah. I'll go slow. So here. It's a lot to look at. It is. As often my work is a lot to look at. Each painting is a lot to look at. And this show really was well received and really launched me here. It was at the Los Angeles Art Association, which is a lot of places, like a place where a lot of emerging artists are new to the city because emerging isn't about age, right? Right. And I'm new to Los Angeles. ## Unattributed [13:32](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jb-J_QTgufM&t=812s) Absolutely. Yes. ## Randi Matushevitz [13:32](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jb-J_QTgufM&t=812s) And this is a really important way to speak. So I was speaking about. ## Roz Dimon [13:39](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jb-J_QTgufM&t=819s) I'm interrupting, but I want to just get an idea of these are paintings. Are they acrylic? Are they oil on canvas? And it looks like you're working with sculpture too, if that's your work there. It's all yours. ## Randi Matushevitz [13:51](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jb-J_QTgufM&t=831s) All my work. So what these are, are they're on canvas. They're charcoal spray paint. They're all painted with acrylic. Pastel. And some have a little bit of acrylic, but they start with drawing and spray paint. ## Roz Dimon [14:08](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jb-J_QTgufM&t=848s) Are you looking at something? Are you looking at a photo? Or are you, is it out of your head? ## Randi Matushevitz [14:12](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jb-J_QTgufM&t=852s) Or where are these coming from? It's all out of my head. You could see I use stencils, which goes back to my printmaking experience. Even though I'm using store-bought stencils to spray through. And like immediate kind of street sensibility. So, and you could see some of the marks. As we go. They're quite large. Like this one is nine feet, six feet by nine. The largest is six feet by 22. ## Roz Dimon [14:40](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jb-J_QTgufM&t=880s) There's a real density to them when you add the stenciling. I mean, or it seems like there is, I mean, they're flat, but there's a, there's a, there's that. You were talking about the perspective. One of your teachers had maybe earlier. It's in there. There seems to be a story and a perspective going on here that I can't really tell. I can't quite put my finger on. ## Randi Matushevitz [14:59](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jb-J_QTgufM&t=899s) Well, they're very, you know, if you say Goya, you get the sense hard to look at the object. There's a lot of the philosophy and the thinking and the concept. It never left me. It's just not always, you know, it's, it's, it's, it's. It's tricky to know when to talk, how much to talk about it, but you, you know, you. ## Roz Dimon [15:20](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jb-J_QTgufM&t=920s) It's excellent. Okay. ## Randi Matushevitz [15:22](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jb-J_QTgufM&t=922s) So you could see a lot of mark making, but these are drawings and a lot of, and they did. These works traveled. This is the work. This work right here is the one that Berlin is in the enter art foundation. And most of these were still go to. Some are. Are still at we a deck of art district in Italy. They hang on to them. ## Roz Dimon [15:43](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jb-J_QTgufM&t=943s) So here are these, which are three by eight feet tall. ## Randi Matushevitz [15:47](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jb-J_QTgufM&t=947s) You can get a sense of, and from the other pictures, they're big. I have a photo here to give you a sense. I'll just, we'll go back and forth as you can see how big they are. Okay. So these are the pieces that were sold. And the fence at the door. So they're quite large. ## Roz Dimon [16:00](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jb-J_QTgufM&t=960s) And how important is the. Installation itself compared to the pieces. I mean, is that when you sell one of these, do you say is it the whole installation or is it. Separate like. ## Randi Matushevitz [16:12](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jb-J_QTgufM&t=972s) I should only have that problem. I would love for them to be together as the story with the music. But in this case, no, I sold the pieces. Yeah. Installation. Is an experience. And I love that. It's not often someone's going to buy an installation. Right. But I enjoy presenting in an installation. And here even I'm going back. This is that very long one where you were looking for the story. And, you know, of course I'm. I'm referencing. Different hand gestures and heads and. You know, real dystopic work. It was. And I was. I was thinking about this. This was right before term. Or I guess Trump was already here. But it was. That homelessness was growing and. And I was just feeling that we were losing our sensibilities in the U S like. Yes. My own generation. Why is the. Average income out of university, the same as it was. All those years ago. ## Unattributed [17:12](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jb-J_QTgufM&t=1032s) You know? ## Randi Matushevitz [17:13](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jb-J_QTgufM&t=1033s) And it's so here's another. Sense of the space. It was a very small room. It was. I think it was 13 by 13. And it was ## Roz Dimon [17:22](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jb-J_QTgufM&t=1042s) A very small room. It was 13 by 13. I love looking. Into the space. That is really cool. Thank you. That's how you enter the space. ## Randi Matushevitz [17:28](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jb-J_QTgufM&t=1048s) You have three feet because I had to make it legal and you can go in. So, and then. This tent, which I put the tent in. And the conversation, it's always funny how you can't control the conversation of a show. People saw the tan and went crazy. Homelessness. And really weren't looking at like how our news and the creation of this uncertainty and the fear cycle. That's what I was talking. Let's, you know, we have to come out of this and be, not be afraid. You know, we have fires here. There's floods, other places. And the point of the temp was. Cause inside the tent. I mean, there's. It was like a Pellegrino bottle and lights and flowers. And the point of the tent was any of us could be displaced at any. Time. ## Roz Dimon [18:09](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jb-J_QTgufM&t=1089s) Is that a projection inside the tent? ## Randi Matushevitz [18:13](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jb-J_QTgufM&t=1093s) It is a light. Oh, I see. Okay. It's one of those. Lights that flashes. Colors. So already before I had found. Digital media. I was interested in multiple since. And so this would be it reflecting onto the wall. And so there's different spaces. ## Roz Dimon [18:33](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jb-J_QTgufM&t=1113s) Thanks for explaining. I think that helps us to see it because for those of us who hadn't experienced the installation. ## Randi Matushevitz [18:41](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jb-J_QTgufM&t=1121s) It's important. And the whirring music. And it was really about this. You know, especially when there's a fire here and people are displaced. You know, and then where are you living for a short time? How long can you live in a hotel? How do you deal with it with those rents, you know, et cetera, et cetera. And this is where I was coming from, but the tent made everybody see homelessness and it was only one piece. Cause I was really thinking about how the news. It doesn't do us any good. In. You know, 24 hour repetition. That it's not good. It's important, but not 24 hours. ## Roz Dimon [19:17](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jb-J_QTgufM&t=1157s) Concrete building. It's like a building. Like a particle of a building. Like, I don't know. I can't put it in words, but it seems to speak to that whole structural nature you're talking about, you know? But if you have more to say about that, it's. No. ## Randi Matushevitz [19:31](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jb-J_QTgufM&t=1171s) If you move on and I'll just go back here because you see here, even though I'm telling these stories, which goes onto. Other bodies of work that we won't be discussing here, but the faces. I was having a conversation with the curator. And at that time, I'm going to be doing this. I'm a gallerist who took my work to an art show, which culminated in ugly portraits. He said, why don't you take a break? ## Unattributed [19:52](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jb-J_QTgufM&t=1192s) For years. ## Randi Matushevitz [19:54](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jb-J_QTgufM&t=1194s) And think about faces. So this is Justin Bauer here in the center. And the gallerist said, how would you like to have a show with Justin Bauer? And who he's a pretty. Heavy hitter out here. You know, I'm not sure what his. His reputation is on the East coast. And I decided that I was going to learn how to oil paint. ## Roz Dimon [20:16](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jb-J_QTgufM&t=1216s) It's really easy to learn how to paint. So this is Justin Bauer. Is that an artist or. ## Randi Matushevitz [20:20](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jb-J_QTgufM&t=1220s) Sure. And he deals with big faces. I was looking at Marlene. And all these people and this will, you know, we're going to get really close to what I'm doing in the digital realm. So these faces I learned how to paint oil. And I had learned how to paint an oil, but it had been a hot minute and I didn't remember what to do. But all this mark making reminiscent of the drawings, capturing an expression, again now, see? ## Roz Dimon [20:48](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jb-J_QTgufM&t=1248s) Very expressive. No, I love the kind of dystopian darkness in these pieces. That's, they're strange. I mean, they're really strange and original, which is what originally captivated me about your work. Thank you. ## Unattributed [21:01](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jb-J_QTgufM&t=1261s) I mean, originality is strange. ## Roz Dimon [21:03](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jb-J_QTgufM&t=1263s) It's always strange, because we really haven't seen that. ## Randi Matushevitz [21:06](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jb-J_QTgufM&t=1266s) Well, and people think I'm painting crazy people, but maybe I'm just painting the crazy moments within all of us. ## Unattributed [21:12](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jb-J_QTgufM&t=1272s) Oh, yeah. ## Randi Matushevitz [21:12](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jb-J_QTgufM&t=1272s) And it's not popular to show this. You know, it's hard to, I do have a few precious collectors, but it's hard to get people to stop and look at them. Some people get like really, you know, beside themselves, because they're uncomfortable, but they're meant to be. But at the same time, this lives in London right now. The man who bought this, he just says, this image talks to him. Whenever he's in that room. And that's what he loves about it. Because he didn't see this. These are, what are these? These are oil and canvas, and they're about 20 by 20 on average, inches. So they're, and for me, the faces need to be intimate and raw. And you could just see getting into expressionism in the face. You know, the point of the conversation was with the cure, he's like, you know, I look at everything. I look at the story. That's great, but I want to know more about the people. So here, this is how that started. So here we have ugly portraits where I was going for the wear and tear of daily life. This one's, you know, a hard one for people to swallow, but she's ## Roz Dimon [22:25](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jb-J_QTgufM&t=1345s) Definitely raw. If you don't mind, again, are these coming out of your mind after looking at a person or do you look at a photo or do you paint from a model or is this all interior? ## Randi Matushevitz [22:35](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jb-J_QTgufM&t=1355s) It's all interior. However, that being said, I think it's a good idea. I think it's a good idea to say who are these people? They're not just myself, especially at this point, but you ever feel like when you look, you know, do you like to people watch? ## Roz Dimon [22:48](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jb-J_QTgufM&t=1368s) That's the thing I love most about New York City. I mean, I lived in New York City 30 years and you didn't have to go to any galleries or anything. Just, it would take me out of myself to just go and watch people. I love it. Yes. ## Randi Matushevitz [23:00](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jb-J_QTgufM&t=1380s) Sit down for a second anywhere, right? Other than that. Anywhere. ## Roz Dimon [23:04](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jb-J_QTgufM&t=1384s) It doesn't have to be New York City. It can be almost anywhere. People are fascinating if you, you know, really look. ## Randi Matushevitz [23:10](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jb-J_QTgufM&t=1390s) I agree. And this is my, and so this is the, my inspiration. So the person you see on the bus waiting for the bus, because I'm- It's so emotional. ## Unattributed [23:19](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jb-J_QTgufM&t=1399s) They're wonderful. ## Randi Matushevitz [23:21](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jb-J_QTgufM&t=1401s) Thank you. These are 2019. So again, 2018, 2019. And then this work was, this is the one collected at the Museum of Art and History in Lancaster. And by this time I was learning more control over the oil, but I, and, but I still loved that rich, rich texture from the drawing. And here's me. ## Roz Dimon [23:40](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jb-J_QTgufM&t=1420s) Emotional. It's not even one expression that I like. It's, it's a, it's a combination of different emotions in these spaces. ## Randi Matushevitz [23:48](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jb-J_QTgufM&t=1428s) Yes. And so I'm influenced by what I see, but I really think the reason I don't need reference is because back in arts, you know, in undergrad, back in college, with all those model, live models and the worksheets with lighting faces from every angle and the tracings, I, when I'm in my studio, I often go back to faces because I know it. I'm not trying to do a physical portrait. I'm doing an emotional portrait. ## Roz Dimon [24:16](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jb-J_QTgufM&t=1456s) Yes. ## Randi Matushevitz [24:17](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jb-J_QTgufM&t=1457s) And so that's what this work, and this is the beginning. ## Roz Dimon [24:20](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jb-J_QTgufM&t=1460s) Do you appreciate that groundwork? I mean, that you had that groundwork. Is that where you, I mean, do you appreciate that you did all that drawing from the figure? Yes. ## Randi Matushevitz [24:30](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jb-J_QTgufM&t=1470s) Yeah. I appreciate every back to foundation thing I did. So in grad school, I'll tell you a little funny story. I almost got thrown out of grad school because I had taken a break from art. I wasn't getting into grad schools. And you know, we all have our journey, right? When I said I didn't have my stuff together. And that's fine. I wasn't gonna take no for an answer. And I finally found a grad school that said, after the first semester, you're so unfocused that unless you do A, B and C, I'm gonna ask you to leave. So he said, I looked at my, the head of my committee, he looked at my record and said, you have no foundations drawing. You only have figure drawing. You're going with the freshmen, I swear. So yes, I appreciate it. Cause that, and he was, you're not gonna paint the figure either. And he goes, and I want to see what happens. And so we did that for a year. ## Roz Dimon [25:23](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jb-J_QTgufM&t=1523s) And then, you know, Yeah, work, I'm trying to see if you thought that was important or not. Cause figure to me, and the figure is so much, you know, that's a lot. ## Randi Matushevitz [25:30](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jb-J_QTgufM&t=1530s) Well, what was important was I wasn't, I was stuck on the figure and not thinking about the rest of the canvas or the picture, please. I was just thinking about the outline or, so by doing the foundations level, again, it rerouted extra drawing skills. My figures became more fleshy. Everything was enhanced. Oh good. Including the materiality of the paint, which you saw in some of the earlier, you know, this, this materiality of the paint is very much, all I'm doing is drawing. Everything I do is based in drawing, no matter in my painting. And that's why I don't paint. ## Roz Dimon [26:05](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jb-J_QTgufM&t=1565s) I relate to that. Cause sometimes I don't know whether to call something a painting or a drawing, you know? ## Randi Matushevitz [26:09](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jb-J_QTgufM&t=1569s) Well, I'll call it a painting, but it's not like I'm doing my background in the big shapes and moving. I mean, I've learned to control some of that because in the last few years, I was, my hands were itching. I don't know if other artists have problems with materials and I was getting headaches. So I learned how to paint solvent free. ## Unattributed [26:26](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jb-J_QTgufM&t=1586s) I took a class. Oh yeah. ## Randi Matushevitz [26:28](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jb-J_QTgufM&t=1588s) Which brings me to headspace and headspace 3D. So now getting to the tech stuff. Okay. And you're getting history. You could see what I say, what I'm interested in Baroque and I'm interested. And let me talk about the patterning that in the early work and the stencils. I worked with Mirren Shapiro in 1992, I think it was, or three. ## Roz Dimon [26:49](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jb-J_QTgufM&t=1609s) I hung out with her a little bit in New York. Yeah, but yeah, respect her very much. But yeah, tell me about that. ## Randi Matushevitz [26:55](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jb-J_QTgufM&t=1615s) She had a workshop and my friend and I took a week off grad school, we got permission. It was actually one of our professors that brought it to our attention. And we went away for a week, you know, everyone signed off and we just learned not only how to collaborate, but to really understand her sensibility, whether it's the figures or the, so that has rooted more rooted the patterning. So. ## Roz Dimon [27:24](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jb-J_QTgufM&t=1644s) Oh, what's that more of her, was that about her patterning? I mean, she's done several, I mean. ## Randi Matushevitz [27:29](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jb-J_QTgufM&t=1649s) You know, it was just about working with her and collage. I mean, she didn't, we didn't sit and lecture. She sat there in the front of the room. We were like in a big craft room with giant tables, you know? And you were asked to bring materials work with an, and a lot of it was based in collage to work quickly. But we had acrylic and string and after session would be over. We'd go try to find a hardware store in Clearwater Florida or one of those little stores to see what kind of crap we could just pick up like patches. You know, like we used to buy, we bought patches at that time. You can get them in like the. Drugstore, you know, things are different now, right? Like cute patches. So. Time to go back though. That's interesting. Yeah. Yeah. So that really, that experience with her and her freedom and the women issues and being in school, Paula Harper, who was the writer at Women's House was on my graduate committee as well. So all of these things, I'm always thinking about being a woman. Then if I'm not being a woman, I'm being a human. And if I'm a human and I'm not gender and I'm not culture and I'm not race, and I'm not all those knots of identity, what am I? And where is that guttural connection as human? Maybe we'll be nicer to each other, especially now with all the division. It's worse than ever in our lifetime. Maybe it's not worse than ever in the history of the world. Okay. So. ## Roz Dimon [28:53](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jb-J_QTgufM&t=1733s) I agree. Absolutely agree. Yeah, totally. ## Randi Matushevitz [28:56](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jb-J_QTgufM&t=1736s) So Headspace, the painting led to Headspace 3D. So these paintings were when I learned to paint solvent-free, very complex. Completely. And I'm stenciling pattern, I'm painting pattern, and these are all oil and linen. On linen? On linen. So now I've upped my game in the sense that I have a control over the paint and the pattern. And these works are the foundation for the video and the digital work. So these are still all just oil on canvas, already dealing with layers and texture and, and so then, you know, one day this summer. ## Roz Dimon [29:39](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jb-J_QTgufM&t=1779s) They have a wonderful, I don't know, not clown, well, I always love clowns, but. ## Randi Matushevitz [29:45](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jb-J_QTgufM&t=1785s) No, you could say clown. People say clown, and I think it's because they're mask-like. They're a generalization. They're. ## Roz Dimon [29:53](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jb-J_QTgufM&t=1793s) But they're also sort of the ubermensch, or every man and every woman. I mean, clowns really are good ones, I think are very, they're not just superficial, you know, they're. ## Randi Matushevitz [30:04](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jb-J_QTgufM&t=1804s) Right. And it's that. French use of clowns, which I am not an expert in, but during this time I was thinking about, I was reading Julia Christopher, I was reading, I was looking, I was looking at Bacon, and I was trying to really have a mastery of painting. ## Unattributed [30:21](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jb-J_QTgufM&t=1821s) I can see how you like Bacon. ## Randi Matushevitz [30:22](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jb-J_QTgufM&t=1822s) Of course I like it very much too. And I'm proud, and then I was, you know, and then even with the way I was handling the paint on the faces, you know, what happens, and it led me to think what happens if you, you know, just combine that with the painting. And I was like, oh, I'm going to do this. And then I was like, oh, I'm going to do this. And then I was like, oh, I'm going to do this. And then I was like, oh, I'm going to do this. So it's kind of like that abstract expressionist Mark with this emotional expressive work, which the two are technically like opposites in the art world, you know, and then it's not quite surrealism, but it's not, and it's kind of symbolism. And so it's this melding of like, he's looking for a human connection, which I decided was something I was looking for, finally. So here's in the summer back to how I got digital. My mother was in home hospice. She lived with me for five years. And she was like, oh, I want to do this. And I was like, oh, I want years I've been taking care of her for years many of us out here up in the world have this moment and as a daughter and I know many sons do it but as a daughter in my family it was mine and I picked up my phone my friends were telling me about different apps like the like leap the leap products okay there's a suite of apps for your phone and they're phone apps and it's like well will it recognize one of my portraits as a as a photograph and it did and what I started doing was making them move wow ## Roz Dimon [31:41](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jb-J_QTgufM&t=1901s) And that's so cool and are you doing that with these leap apps is that oh I see yeah so ## Randi Matushevitz [31:48](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jb-J_QTgufM&t=1908s) What I'm doing and different facial apps there's about four or five apps I use and this is a series not added any background layers this is just me lining up my photos and then I'm like oh my gosh I'm gonna do this and then I'm like oh my gosh so some people here's a good one thing to know someone asked me if I was making all those faces am I using the kind of apps that allow me I can't make that kind of gesture I can't move clowny enough I'm not Jim Carrey I wish right he can get it to do it so I have to line up the dots of what it gives you for eyes nose mouth cheekbones and then I have to carve them in time based with my fingers I have to move the face as if it was like clay so it's digital clay and then and hold it and move it and repeat over and over and over to get these 10 seconds 20 seconds 20 seconds the tongue and the tongue with some of the apps I hope to you know it's not really something that bothers me even though others have mentioned their denture like but ## Roz Dimon [32:48](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jb-J_QTgufM&t=1968s) I don't find that it doesn't bother me there's just they're so odd and different and unusual there's an eerie beauty to these that it's just and I like the sort of I don't know the patterning that's going on in the background of some of these is the way that the face and the I don't know you know I'm it's ## Randi Matushevitz [33:06](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jb-J_QTgufM&t=1986s) Beautiful so this is another app and I was wondering if Cindy Sherman used this app because you could just move like certain body parts and I have this is just one of those it was ## Roz Dimon [33:16](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jb-J_QTgufM&t=1996s) A lot of you must have had that aha moment when it said oh did it recognize as a photo you must have gone like oh wow I ## Randi Matushevitz [33:23](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jb-J_QTgufM&t=2003s) Couldn't believe it I mean I couldn't believe it so this here we'll let this play why we talk and this will this is a collection of some of these are nfts some of them are just the clips you know where you end so I move the face the patterns in the original painting and I'm controlling the expression and I added sparkle so though these are part of some of the original headspace paintings I just had shown a few and that here I started to add layers so it's a painting and then different screen layers and this is the color in each so I know they're going to add layers because they're short they're all like six seconds but you get the essence now I'm playing with all the digital effects and I'm just and it's starting what happened all of a sudden this desire to paint a feeling an emotion to make a portrait of an emotion that hopefully humans will connect to because we are familiar with feelings right that will make us kinder to each other because we're all equally as important like we're all preaching it but let's live it right and that's where you know some of those and it's just going to start again for a second come from and now you see the paintings as I see them because the faces I'm painting change I don't know who they're going to be when I start and I'm not sure who they're going to be when I'm done and I choose to make the pattern move like with that one so you know there's I started doing some longer versions of these and this is Queenie I showed you her painting earlier yeah ## Unattributed [35:06](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jb-J_QTgufM&t=2106s) What are the titles does ## Randi Matushevitz [35:07](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jb-J_QTgufM&t=2107s) That matter to you what are the titles well the titles are each video is more or less titled by the character this is a presentation of Queenie I can present many presentations of Queenies I have lots ## Roz Dimon [35:22](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jb-J_QTgufM&t=2122s) Of clips I think there's some it looks like male female it does it that thing you were talking about look and if I'm not gender if I'm not this it is getting to a certain essence it's really interesting and ## Randi Matushevitz [35:37](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jb-J_QTgufM&t=2137s) And then adding like adding the crystals this is all digital elements and things I find even to add some sound I find that this tells the story of these characters like I do I don't mind if the music is playing it just gives you like my installation and an environment and atmosphere and this sound I put together with different sounds in are you creating the sounds or do you work collaboratively for the live sounds I worked collaboratively for this collaboratively with this woman Michelle Greener out here and she has a children's orchestra it's pretty amazing and she composes for this one I made my own by combining I mean we're here to share right by combining different sound effects you know you could buy apps or programs that give you choices of sound and in this case I was just using what iMovie or Rush Premiere what came with things so that gives you that sense this is fame but famous this is what I'm working on and I thought I'd show you people I'm working on this is what I'm working on and I thought I'd show you people pieces of it and these about a minute they're the crux of what I work on telling these stories and I think the time-based storytelling so you remember the painting yes can you hear the footsteps ## Roz Dimon [37:08](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jb-J_QTgufM&t=2228s) Yes now I can okay ## Randi Matushevitz [37:11](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jb-J_QTgufM&t=2231s) I made it loud but her expression so this whole series of fame and listen is based in but her expression so this whole series of fame and listen is based in the a folk tale of the Jewish bride and here I'm just going to make it a little quieter but you get the sense and I've laid in the hearts and the love and the addiction to love or the addiction to our ego there's so many interpretations that I want I was talking also about what keeps us from being connected and that's what I'm doing is ## Roz Dimon [37:58](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jb-J_QTgufM&t=2278s) I'm suppressing that what's going on in your life and I'm suppressing that what's going on in your life and I'm suppressing that what's going on in your life and I'm suppressing that what's going on ## Randi Matushevitz [38:07](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jb-J_QTgufM&t=2287s) In your life and I'm suppressing that what's going on in your life and I'm suppressing that what's going on in your life and I'm suppressing that what's going on in your life and I'm suppressing that what's going on in your life and I'm suppressing that what's going on in your life and I'm suppressing that what's going on in your life and I'm suppressing that what's going on in your life and I'm suppressing that what's going on in your life and I'm suppressing that what's going on in your life I didn't think I was going to have children. I was told I couldn't. There was a lot of personal stuff. And what is identity if I didn't fit the stereotypical? I came from a first generation family, very stereotypical expectations. And nothing I did was stereotypical. So that culminates in Quaft, which again was shown on the Helms building where you could see my technique. And now I'm showing multiple faces at once. It's our headspace. We're multiple people at once. We take breaks. We dream off. Things are processing. And that's the whole point of going through. Sorry, honey. ## Unattributed [38:55](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jb-J_QTgufM&t=2335s) Don't talk to me now. ## Randi Matushevitz [38:58](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jb-J_QTgufM&t=2338s) Excuse me. It's okay. I love it. Please. So you just see my love of being human and that we need to just stop genocide. Not that I'm not preaching any one social thing. It's really about that social experiment. If you smile at someone. Now we're wearing a lot of masks. And I'm still a little less in LA and New York, but they tend to smile back as long as you don't smile at it like a cuckoo clock. Even going back to the homeless people, the same family that I would see for the first three years. Now you see a lot of homeless. Well, it looks more druggy. It's dirty. In the early years when I was thinking about it, these people were working homeless. They were not dirty. They didn't leave mess. ## Roz Dimon [39:42](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jb-J_QTgufM&t=2382s) My screen door. One second. Okay. There's no sound. I'm sorry. Sorry. Okay. I'm back. ## Randi Matushevitz [39:50](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jb-J_QTgufM&t=2390s) No, it's fine. But I mean, that's what I was saying. So we are that every man there's something I'm really, you know, I find there's a lot of resistance to talking about universals right now. People really want to be heard for their individualism, their group, their how they've been hurt. Not that it's not true. You know but as a Jew, it seems like it keeps coming around, you know? And I get pigeon with just white people because I blend in, you know, but I have hard experiences too. And I just don't feel always comfortable talking about that in specifics. So I've chosen to try to be a little nostalgic like this kind of birds like Halloween and you know things affect me where I'm living the seasons and the person and I did all of these on my phone in the early stages all the clips and then put them together longer on my computer. And this one is your phone is that what's that experience like fast? I love it. Clicking buttons. I can think fast I can save I download it to my photos and I can have I have so many I 30,000 photos or video shorts on photos because and I pay for that space because this way I can take live video of like my driving to Las Vegas after my mom passed. They're very personal. I'm very personal to talk to every man on a road trip like whoa, it's beautiful. Did you see the bird? Did you see these simple quiet things that keep that help us regulate but my work isn't one thing sometimes I want to disturb us because sometimes we're frantic but maybe when you know, I don't know where I was and I this one woman was crying something happened. I don't know. We could have been in a rock for let you know, one of those stores and we spoke for a minute. I asked her if she was okay. And I said, I don't know. She said I don't know what happened to her and she wanted help and that's all I'll say and see if I wouldn't have felt the need to say are you okay? She couldn't have gotten that little help she needed right then and so this is that culmination. This is quoi this is I'm sorry for the street volume. It's not important. I'll make it lower. This is something that happened just a month ago Quaft was invited to be at the Helms Design Center on slide building. And now I realize to see this larger than life this experience watching people walk by this is a real short one of it live makes me want to do this more you're ## Roz Dimon [42:28](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jb-J_QTgufM&t=2548s) Projecting it projecting from inside oh yeah it's really quite an experience did you I imagine people were stopping and ## Randi Matushevitz [42:37](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jb-J_QTgufM&t=2557s) It was pretty amazing should I stop sharing so we can talk do you want to ask questions or well ## Roz Dimon [42:43](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jb-J_QTgufM&t=2563s) You know what let's just well I think we should just stay on one of your pieces maybe the queen or somebody maybe the ## Randi Matushevitz [42:51](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jb-J_QTgufM&t=2571s) Video and let it play in the background you mean or yeah just or maybe just a still one because ## Roz Dimon [42:57](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jb-J_QTgufM&t=2577s) They're so interesting I mean well let's go queenie we can always jump to her video you talk faster than I do I told you I was hypey you're so fascinating this has been a wonderful discussion! I did want to just include I wanted to say something first as a woman to woman I've never been quite someone who liked to be part of the I'm a woman artist I'm a this artist I'm a white artist I'm a whatever even though I do agree with you that the specialty and the attention being paid to oppressed peoples I think I'm I think it's so important and the world but I do like where you're coming from and I've been thinking a lot lately more than I ever have about how a male maybe paints or an artist works who's a man or at least more man than woman and how a woman does I mean we are the progenitors we're the birth creatures we're the nurturers we're the you know there's I love that seeing something that's complicated and strange which is also trying to heal you know it doesn't have to be this mamsy pamsy or what would I say it's hard to say because beauty comes it doesn't have to be just soft like oh that makes me feel good yes it can still be I love the kind of darkness of your work that also comes with a real caring and nurturing and feeling about what's happening in the world right now and that really I really respond to that so thank you so much well thank you I want ## Randi Matushevitz [44:26](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jb-J_QTgufM&t=2666s) To say that ## Roz Dimon [44:26](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jb-J_QTgufM&t=2666s) What ## Randi Matushevitz [44:27](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jb-J_QTgufM&t=2667s) The when I was talking about headspace and then this other body dystopian lullabies which again I bounced into a body of narrative work and it's all gray painted like really focused and it comes out of these two bodies these three bodies of work I'm showing you or four but that's my practice it's a revolving simultaneous practice yeah and I wanted the paintings to do it but I think the videos do it better is being a transposition for our suffering which is why we do yoga which is why we go to church or whatever our temple or our source is to re-regulate or to or art the temple of art making which has already always helped me regulate you know from the practice where I'm just in here making a big mess I mean not every time I walk in here working on something to be finished or shown I'm cutting I'm doing sometimes you just need to release I ## Roz Dimon [45:22](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jb-J_QTgufM&t=2722s) Remember that as a spiritual seeker myself I mean I you know I was raised Episcopalian but I the reason I went and took interfaith ministries because the whole I'm interested in all of it you know I'm you know too Jewish Christian Muslim Islamic I mean you know philosophy people ## Randi Matushevitz [45:40](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jb-J_QTgufM&t=2740s) Who don't believe but believe in a humanistic philosophy it's ## Unattributed [45:45](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jb-J_QTgufM&t=2745s) A hundred ## Randi Matushevitz [45:46](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jb-J_QTgufM&t=2746s) That's there yes and so I think I had I just want to show you one more picture we can keep talking this is I had this 3D sculpture printed and I've been trying to project to loose a video onto it I don't know enough about mapping to show you this experiment but see it goes further because how do I want to present these do I want to have a group of heads talking so my computer hold ## Roz Dimon [46:08](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jb-J_QTgufM&t=2768s) On just did you say that you created this in 3D? ## Randi Matushevitz [46:12](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jb-J_QTgufM&t=2772s) Digitally yeah yes I worked with somebody to help me make the 3D model from my painting we had to make a 3D sculpture if I really if I would have realized I would have wanted to help make the sculpture because I would really feel oh perfect but you see how just the face part I have to work on digital mapping but I wanted to say this journey isn't done you know and I don't and I just made a small head even when we die it's not done right ## Roz Dimon [46:40](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jb-J_QTgufM&t=2800s) What even when we die the journey's not done I'm not sure for being here I understand as an artist it is always it's a journey it's ## Randi Matushevitz [46:48](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jb-J_QTgufM&t=2808s) It is I'm just gonna let this one play while we're talking finishing because this is a lighter one see it's called aquarium but ## Unattributed [46:58](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jb-J_QTgufM&t=2818s) What's she sure uh-huh ## Randi Matushevitz [47:00](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jb-J_QTgufM&t=2820s) Does it loop do you have your pieces they usually loop this one's not looped I just threw it in here to share it usually I do I think this one might be looped the videos are looped I just for this presentation I didn't want them to go on forever and ever you know oh ## Roz Dimon [47:16](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jb-J_QTgufM&t=2836s) There's so I love this one it's so interesting I could look at these for a long time that's one thing about a still image that I think is interesting as well though is that you can look at a still image a long time and keep seeing things in it especially this work dream ## Randi Matushevitz [47:30](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jb-J_QTgufM&t=2850s) And this is I have a collector who but I'm gonna stop a few more questions and we're gonna sure sure just ask them I'll talk about the collector since she started no who she has looked at some of these and she just is dying over the videos you know we just she says what you say she has a different painting and she just says how she talks to her and she's it's a very small face and she loves her to death oh ## Roz Dimon [47:59](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jb-J_QTgufM&t=2879s) But ## Randi Matushevitz [48:00](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jb-J_QTgufM&t=2880s) She has other drawings and things, but every so often I send her a video and say, what do you think of this one? She's like, now she's a test subject. ## Roz Dimon [48:09](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jb-J_QTgufM&t=2889s) Well, what I wanted to ask you, what interests you? Let's tie it back to the group that actually is sponsoring these interviews. Yes. Expressionism. Can you tell me what interests you about Techspressionism? ## Randi Matushevitz [48:24](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jb-J_QTgufM&t=2904s) Much well one is you know when I heard the name and I heard what call it you know the definition using technology for expression I and you know I'd never heard of it and I was like oh my god here are these little faces that I made move because that's how I always think of things not with my ego but with my joy of just look what I stumbled on yeah ## Roz Dimon [48:47](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jb-J_QTgufM&t=2927s) And ## Randi Matushevitz [48:47](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jb-J_QTgufM&t=2927s) What I love about this group this collective I don't know what the right word is it's a growing force yeah learning from people like you who know how to like I've been doing it or they're laying in code and how they're you know I stumbled into being user friendly I'm trying to learn the adobe suite and I'm trying to learn how to use it and I'm trying to learn how to use it and I'm it's knocking my me for you know right off my chair it's hard it's much easier to push my phone to feel free to feel experimental and I just to see how many different technological visions that I love to just meet this group of warm intelligent thoughtful yes who have so long been ignored I don't really you know I've told you this before all the time I've told you this before all the time I've told you this before all the time off this video I'm here to learn I love it too and I was so glad to be part of it like to be invited to you know eventually to be accepted in and because I'm learning and we talk about tech we talk about projectors we I mean stuff I am such a novice and I'm thrilled also ## Roz Dimon [50:03](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jb-J_QTgufM&t=3003s) I think the art that's being shown is not just you know it's like I just use tech I mean there's really coming from different angles and different points of view there's been from some very I ## Randi Matushevitz [50:12](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jb-J_QTgufM&t=3012s) Like watching NFTs there I had seen hardly anything that looks cartoony or just like for a quick sorry to say it this way nobody's doing a quick trick everybody has a pursuit based in their personal interest ## Unattributed [50:28](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jb-J_QTgufM&t=3028s) Their personal journey ## Roz Dimon [50:30](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jb-J_QTgufM&t=3030s) Some people that you've seen ## Randi Matushevitz [50:33](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jb-J_QTgufM&t=3033s) I'm ## Roz Dimon [50:33](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jb-J_QTgufM&t=3033s) Sorry is that what you're saying you're talking about the people in text yes I agree there's it's not just skin deep here there's real depth of work going on and ## Randi Matushevitz [50:41](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jb-J_QTgufM&t=3041s) Scientists and artists and people who play mute all different inspirations ## Roz Dimon [50:49](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jb-J_QTgufM&t=3049s) It's really we only have a few more minutes this has been excellent Randy and I know we're just you know just tapping the iceberg here with your work but it's sorry ## Randi Matushevitz [50:58](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jb-J_QTgufM&t=3058s) I talked so long I was I said I'm going to be a short one but then you got ## Roz Dimon [51:03](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jb-J_QTgufM&t=3063s) It we need it so it's fine but I think you may have already told us this but well you know can you just briefly before we sign off your talk a little about what you're working on now which seems to be the video maybe going into 3D and if you could add on to that maybe how you see the future of art if you want to comment on that ## Randi Matushevitz [51:24](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jb-J_QTgufM&t=3084s) I think okay so for my work I'm still painting I my I see creating more experiences digit where these digital videos are playing in windows or on buildings especially after seeing the lady who spoke the other day and the text especially I can't think of her name off the top of my head yes oh yeah like some of not like you know some of her control over the projectors and stuff this is a dream for me even though our work is completely different so that's so there's so much respect when I come to this group so I'm still working on finding my community like you people who like this kind of work and you know you I do run it's LA there's a little you know this is a little dark on the west coast might be a little well better on the east coast or Berlin or you know hence where the work is shown and so to create this overarching installation of painting and video and perhaps sculpt or series of these sculptures with videos that are mapped this is the investigation so you know so I'm using all of my tools and I'm still making large paintings small paintings that feed the work very exciting very exciting at the end I have a big you know like a big body of work in the end you know because it comes out of a need to make ## Roz Dimon [52:49](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jb-J_QTgufM&t=3169s) The future of ## Randi Matushevitz [52:51](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jb-J_QTgufM&t=3171s) Art do you have any future of art I think is really interesting I think that we are raising a very sophisticated group of visual people that's why everyone's hyper now it's not that everyone's really hyper it's that we process visually more than we know and we're not talking about it in our schools so I think it's a very interesting thing to do and I think it's a very moving piece because our artists would never never stop developing digital vegetables only once per generation even though these images through digital directions through imagination through artistic variations through correlation through charges through involvement through presup gauge through acceleration through realization through transitions through metaphor through I'm not worried about conservation. I mean, as the maker, I do the best I can, but this could be a whole jobs for the world. You know, I think art is just gonna always be with us. As Ellen Dasaniaki said in her book in the 90s, a homoestheticus, it's a sociobiological need in the human species. ## Roz Dimon [53:57](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jb-J_QTgufM&t=3237s) Absolutely, I love that. I agree where I feel we're in a new visual vocabulary, you know, that's everyone's an artist and people sometimes say that with a little bit of a, you know, and people are afraid of digital, but like every revolution, it might be frightening, but it's just everything rises and becomes kind of the same yet different. You know, I mean, digital speaks to the time we're in right now and the art of this time, what could be more important? ## Randi Matushevitz [54:24](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jb-J_QTgufM&t=3264s) So, and I think we're gonna get used to having more immersive experiences. You know, there was a big talk the other day about what's going on with Van Gogh and soon Monet. And, you know, is that really art? Well, maybe that's not, that's not the art, but that is an experience. People can have to have be educated visually. ## Roz Dimon [54:42](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jb-J_QTgufM&t=3282s) It's better than something like what you're doing or I'm doing that's coming out of an artist process. You know, it's a little more entertainment, but it is getting people into this, you know, to understand and look more seriously at digital, you know. ## Randi Matushevitz [54:58](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jb-J_QTgufM&t=3298s) But I think we're ripe for it. Movies, part of why I do faces is because when you watch TV or our own little boxes, what are we looking at? I'm looking at your face. When we're bored, we're looking at your face. We're looking at your face. We look at whoever's being our mother face. They're learning right away social cues. Yes. ## Roz Dimon [55:16](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jb-J_QTgufM&t=3316s) And I think it's important to connect to the past, not just the fathers, but the mothers to everyone. ## Randi Matushevitz [55:21](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jb-J_QTgufM&t=3321s) And I didn't mean it just that way, but like, that's what we're doing when we learn, you know, sorry, I have an itch, but oh my God, this is so wonderful. And I just know that I'm gonna grow in ways I can't imagine hanging around to expressionism. And I hope I can have others grow as well. And I'm honored to be here. And you wanted to talk to me. ## Roz Dimon [55:41](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jb-J_QTgufM&t=3341s) So, so much. I'm going to stop the recording. And thank you, Randy Manischewitz for this incredible experience.