Matt Siber
(American, b. 1972; resides in Chicago, IL)
References can be drawn to religious iconography, the supernatural, popular notions of extraterrestrials, or science fiction films such as Blade Runner. Each of these references refers to something that can profoundly affect our lives yet is just beyond our control and comprehension. — Matt Siber, regarding Floating Logos
By digitally removing the poles and stanchions that support the large glowing signs used most often to advertise gas stations and restaurants, Matt Siber’s pictures effectively transform those signs from familiar roadside structures to fantastic objects. In some ways, the namesakes of the Floating Logos series simply take the original intentions of the designers to completion: brands as beacons, unencumbered by the visual distraction of utilitarian supports or other reminders of the less glamorous real world. The power of logos (and other forms of advertising) is also a theme in Siber’s Untitled Project series, represented in this Midwest Photographers Project portfolio with recent works from Europe and China. Multilingualism only heightens the tension in this series of urban images digitally stripped of all text and accompanied by panels in which that same text has been rendered in black on a blank white sheet in approximately its original font, size, and location within the frame.
Matt Siber was born in Chicago in 1972, grew up in Brookline, Massachusetts, and returned to Chicago in 2000. He earned a BA in History and Geography from the University of Vermont in Burlington (1994) and an MFA in Photography from Columbia College Chicago (2003). He spent 1994 through 2000 as a commercial photographer, and currently teaches photography at Columbia College Chicago. Solo exhibitions of his work have been held at La Fabrica Galeria, Madrid; Peter Miller Gallery, Chicago; Florida Gulf Coast University, Fort Myers, FL; and Galeria Antoni Pinyol, Reus, Spain. Siber’s photographs are in the collections of The Art Institute of Chicago; Aaron Siskind Foundation Fellows Collection, Princeton University, NJ; and COFFFoundation, San Sebastián, Spain.
