Matt Brackett is a figurative painter who creates images that explore personal and family narratives.
His paintings emerge from a stream of consciousness
sketching process that he has used for many years to
generate ideas. Built from these sketches and peopled
with family members, his most recent series of
paintings presents scenes of longing, humor and
reflection in scenes from his grandmother's childhood
home. In the context of the family's struggle since
her death in 2001 until the resulting sale of the
ancestral house last June, Brackett's paintings are
meant to allow a field of interpretation as they
invite the viewers to contemplate a 90-year history of
family and place, of memory and imagination, of love
and loss.
Brackett was born in Berkeley, CA and lives and works
in Somerville, MA. He received a Bachelor's degree in
painting from Yale University in 1997 where he was the
recipient of the Ethel Childe Walker Prize. His work
has been shown nationally in galleries and museums,
including the Art Complex Museum, MA; Fort Mason
Center, CA; Alpha Gallery, MA; Fitchburg Art Museum,
MA; Acacia Gallery, MA; Yale University Art Gallery,
CT. He has also been included twice in the juried
exhibition in print, New American Painting, issues #38
and #56.
Brackett is the recipient of numerous awards, including grants from the Elizabeth Greenshields Foundation, the Ludwig Vogelstein Foundation, the Massachusetts Cultural Council, the George Sugarman Foundation, the Somerville Arts Council, and residencies at Yaddo and the Virginia Center for the Creative Arts.
