In 1989, Fink made a strong first impression at the Walker's Point Center for the Arts with a room installed with images of serial killers and TV characters. He'd be laid off in the winter, and he started painting." Shimon and Lindemann first became aware of Fink "around the music scene in Milwaukee at punk shows in the mid '80s. As his craft and his content continue to develop, they give his work an incredible allure. The reality check is really beautiful to me. "He sees what gets people upset, what they consider repulsive and appalling, and then that becomes his work. "I love the way he finds taboos and really taps into them," said Julie Lindemann, who curated the Neo-Post-Now show with John Shimon. His mixture of proletarian zest and Old Testament fervor makes Fink's concoctions so intellectually tasty. It's a working man's critique of our depressingly earthbound utopia, saddled with sin and painfully short on redemption.įink's growing skill as a paint handler, portraying this fairy-tale Armageddon in colors as icky-sweet as they are nastily sentimental, compounds the effect. It's an awful vision, but it says a lot about people. In one, "Friend or Food," a homeless man, heating up his meager meal in a hobo jungle, gazes upon the skinny pup who begs for food while envisioning that same canine pal spinning above the fire on a spit. The stuff at Instinct Gallery, as irascible as it is irresistible, strikes a similar mood of anger and revulsion at the vagaries of the human condition. Yet another, frozen in the moment of decapitation, moralizes about Manson. In another a similarly adorable lad, wearing a Hitler mustache and a Nazi uniform, gives the "Sieg Heil!" salute. In "Sunday Sermon" an apple-cheeked cherub, applauded by his adoring dog, warms his hands at a jerrybuilt lectern while a nuclear explosion takes place in the background. Here, children who resemble Hummel figurines act out tableaux of horror and death. For all his love of gadgetry he loathes commercialism and sees hypocrisy everywhere.Ĭonsider the three tiny, totally lethal pieces that make up his contribution to "Cut Across the Middle," an invitational group show that is taking potshots at middle-class pretensions through July 13 at the Neo-Post-Now Gallery. But underneath is a poison pill of painfully acute observation and scathing irony. "I'm showing people what is happening."įink sugarcoats his messianic message with images of lovable puppies and doll-like kiddies. "I'm like a prophet," he remarked not long ago. Yet he seems in little danger of being co-opted by the bourgeois high jinks he simultaneously depicts and deplores. If ever an outsider appeared to be edging into the mainstream, it is Fink. Other images, equally bizarre, are being shown at Instinct Gallery, 725 N. Paintings from his "Li'l Hummel" series, taking to task everybody from Der Fuhrer to Charles Manson, are on display at the Neo-Post-Now Gallery in Manitowoc.
He's a happy man.Īt night, when not laboring in the blissfully messy second-floor studio of his modest Riverwest home, he enjoys sitting in his darkened living room - surrounded by gently glowing candles, miniature skeletons from Jamaica and eerie icons of his own manufacture - and looking out on guys playing baseball at Pumping Station Park.Īt 36, he is beginning to reap the rewards of 10 years of diligent effort, without benefit of academic training or high-powered representation.
Suffice it to say he works to paint, and paints to work. He prefers not to say exactly how he earns his living. He went directly to work after high school. For relaxation he cruises on his vintage Harley-Davidson up the Heritage Trail between towering cliffs and the Mississippi River. His blondish hair is close-cropped and bristly, with a Nordic air to it. He's 6 feet, 3 inches tall and a compact, tightly muscled 195. His legacy lives on knowing he saved many other lives.Matt Fink doesn't fit your typical image of a rising visual artist. He had a sweet disposition and strong heart. Matthew, was an organ donor and was able to save several other lives by donating many of his vital organs. If anyone wishes to make a memorial donation please make them to support his little furry friends at ASPCA. Matthew loved animals, especially his little dogs they were with him morning noon and night for his entire life. Matthew was our bright light and will be missed by so many. He loved to be with his friends and was always the life of the party. Matthew had a wonderful glowing smile and deep brown eyes that made you melt away he always lit up the room when he entered. Matt is survived by his Father, Donald M. Matthew was born in Las Vegas at Sunrise Hospital on December 2nd, 1981. MATTHEW FINK Matthew Scott Fink 39, a lifelong resident in Henderson, NV passed away on December 12th, 2020 at St.