Born June 22nd, 1943 in New York, USA to a family of artists, Gordon Matta-Clark was destined to follow an artistic path from a young age. Except Instead of working in more conventional mediums, Matta-Clark began studying architecture at Cornell University from 1962 to 1968, as well as spending a year in Paris at the Sorbonne university studying French literature. Gordon Matta-Clark’s architectural practice was far from conventional, he even coined the term “Anarchitecture” to describe it. ‘Building Cuts’ are a prime example of this and are some of Matta-Clark’s most famous artworks, in which he cuts holes into the floor or even cuts buildings completely in half, breaking though spaces in a complete dismissal of traditional architecture. 

Gordon Matta-Clark’s appropriation of urban spaces to create visually jarring and shocking effects provides inspiration to me for the manipulation of common objects within art. If an object already has a use or value within society (say in this case a building) then using it from an artistic point of view creates more impact. This attention to materials and the inherent meaning they hold inspired me to find this within my own work.

gordon matta-clark used photography, film and video to document his artistic destruction. his photographic collages where for me the most successful renditions of the spaces he created.

As well as his successful artistic career, Matta-Clark opened up a restaurant called FOOD with fellow artists Carol Goodden and Tina Girouard. This became a popular meeting place for many art groups based in downtown Manhattan. With emphasis placed on the cooking process as well as the use of exotic ingredients, FOOD would host dining experiences as events, boasting an open kitchen, and an artist run workforce.

Gordon Matta-Clark’s untimely death at the age of 35 was to pancreatic cancer, with his brother (also an artist) taking his own life only one year before.