mattsamlax [at] gmail [dot] com
Matthew Lax is a quadruplet, experimental filmmaker, artist and writer, living in Los Angeles with his dog. Working through documentary and narrative modes, Lax often collaborates with non-actors to explore new forms of reciprocity, intimacy and storytelling. Families, lovers, hobby clubs, and kink communitites become ensembles; the resulting films extrapolate from the participants' real-life dynamics, with a focus on behavior and language, disability, animality and queerness.
These themes continue in Lax’s writing and organizational practice: revealing the narratives behind production processes and exhibition-making, long-term projects, and unstable practices which blend life and art.
Lax’s films and video installations have screened and been exhibited at venues including Viennale (Austria), IHME Contemporary (Helsinki), MIX New York and MIX Brasil (São Paulo), table (Chicago), Los Angeles Municipal Art Gallery (LAMAG), Los Angeles Contemporary Archive (LACA), Everson Museum of Art (Syracuse, NY), REDCAT, Film Forum, Winnipeg Underground Film Festival, The Drawing Center (New York), and CROSSROADS (San Francisco), among others.
Lax’s organizational projects include those held at Anthology Film Archives (NY), Fellows of Contemporary Art (LA), and Human Resources LA. Lax’s writing has appeared in print and online publications including MARCH Journal, Los Angeles Review of Books (LARB), ArtPractical, and Contemporary Art Review Los Angeles (CARLA), as well a catalogue contribution with the Lawndale Art Center (Houston, TX) and a limited edition zine with Inga Books (Chicago). Lax holds a BFA from Syracuse University and received an MFA from California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) in 2016.
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