Matthieu Manche
Past Artist In Residence
2000

Mixed media installation artist Matthieu Manche plays with aesthetics and vanity in his fashionable photos of models sporting giant protrusions made of resin, silicone, and Velcro. This theme of Masquerade is present in his show Cote Quest, shown in San Francisco and Los Angeles at 18th Street Arts Center (2000). A collaboration with Japanese design studio Miyake produced the installation World Cup (1998). Current group show Haptic, put on by Kenya Hara of Tokyo’s Nippon Design Museum in Glasgow, makes the case that the human senses should be the “animating force in manufacturing.” Manche’s piece is a multi-socket extension cord made of silicon and rendered flesh tone. He recently appeared in the Japanese film Body Drop Asphalt (2000); prior to that, he designed a series of latex garments manufactured by Fresh in Japan (1998-2000), seen in the photography book Skin Surface Substance and Design that suggest “an elaboration or overflowing of the body.”