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Visit Matt Kotch at http://www.fishheadart.com/
Matt Kotch was born in southern California in 1967, he grew up in
Orange county during the 1970's. During his childhood he lived within
walking distance to Knott's Berry Farm and the Hollywood Wax Museum
which he and his friends made a constant weekend trip, this is where
they taught themselves how to panhandle. They always ended up with a
pocket full of money. The colorful wax statues of monsters as well as
the movie mask's in the gift shop fed a deep hunger for a young,
creative mind. At a local liquor store he discovered "Ed Roth" monster
cards so with his extra change he made his first art purchase.
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Big Daddy Roth was his first taste of low brow. His grades took a back
seat to filling notebooks with pictures of aliens, zombies, wear
wolves. His interest in fishing took over in about 5th grade and put
art and monsters on hold. He would spend all his free time at local
lakes or he would ride his bike down the storm drain to the beach to
fish the piers sometimes at 4 a.m. Matt took art in junior high and
high school, and he graduated in 1986.
He went to work at a fishing tackle store in 1987 that's lasted 2
years. He then took a job with the state of California in a
developmental center as a psych tech, he worked from 89'- 94'. His
older brothers passing in January of 1994 hit him very hard. He
decided he needed a change ,he quit his job and started work on a
fishing boat. It didn't take long to realize that work on a boat was
not for him, he lasted 1 year and quit. He didn't take any college
level art until 1995, a cartooning class that at first glance looked
great but was a complete disappointment. This class awakened the
sleeping artist and the desire to create. He completed a few more
classes on drawing and started fooling around with acrylic paint .The
medium was challenging to work with because of its quick drying
characteristics.
He completed his first canvas painting in 1998 an underwater scene with
sea lions swimming around a kelp bed. At this stage he was satisfied
with the subject matter. Matt painted many different scene's over the
next few years as well as completing some very large murals as
commissions. He kept drawing these convoluted doodles of various sea
life covering the entire page with images just to pass the time. His
paintings were getting ready to be created but he didn't know it yet.
He continued to paint mainstream pieces for several years, selling
originals and completing commissions. The images on TV. the morning of
September 11,2001 , devastated Matt, and put him in a funk for several
months. A moderate depression held on ,the pictures of all that death
and sadness kept him from creating art. The scene's of people jumping
to there death was too much to take in .
After a period of time he started to rethink of his place in life and
what he should be doing. While sitting on his couch sketching to pass
the time he stumbled on a design that got him thinking. A giant Mako
shark twisting its way down the page surrounded by colorful fish with
huge eyes. "Grinner"was born 30"x40"the image was painted in 3 months.
This was the first "fish puzzle". He didn't know how he got there but
he liked what he saw. Wanting to get any kind of a response outside of
his family's which was "that's weird" he put it in a local coffee shop
for a price tag he thought that would keep it there indefinitely. He
got a phone call from the shop a month later saying that a person was
interested in buying it. "Grinner"was sold in that summer, but Matt had
completed a second "fish puzzle" at this stage "Windows to the sole",
which sold two months later. Ahh haa! He painted what he loved and it
worked. Matt has been painting what he calls "art that's not for
everybody" for 2 years, each piecetaking several months to complete. He
started building up a body of work that is a true reflection of his
personality. He started to incorporate Tiki in many of his pieces in a
semi-celebration of his brothers short but free-spirit lifestyle on
Oahu. Some of his happiest childhood memory's where spent in San Diego
at a Hawaiian style hotel, the decor was complete 70's.
The blowfish lanterns and giant wooden tiki's looking down at the
patrons kept his attention. He started selling prints of his work at
street fair's around southern California late in 2002. Matt always says
even if nobody bought his work he would still paint it but not
reproduce it ,well with the amount of prints he has its apparent that
there are more than a few people that share his vision. His work is
collected coast to coast, border to border as well as New Zealand
Australia, Korea , China , Poland , Great Britain well lets just say
its out there. It still amazes him when a conservative looking man or
woman in a business suit comes up and talks with excitement about his
work. He has customers that he calls "repeat offenders" people that
come back numerous times to get more work, these people are truly
unique.
He had a one-man show in San Antonio TX in 97'at the Peephole Art
Gallery, he has participated in numerous group shows and his work
always stands out. His work can be seen at the Huntington Beach
"Artafair" by the pier each Friday and the Showcase North gallery in
Santa Ana. He participates in street fairs, tattoo conventions and
"custom" car shows up and down the coast and will be reaching several
different states this year. Matt started advertising in "Juxtapoz" late
2003 marketing himself to an audience that appreciates funky "creepy"
work. He take's the occasional commission if given free reign. He
continues to paint everyday and is always thinking about his next
image. Sleep is not for an artist that wants success in his own life. |
