Student Gallery

On Thursday when I attended Matt Bodett's Show "To Be Lost If It Must Be So" in the SUB with our class I was very intrigued by his work. I liked his work right away and thought that he was very talented but I was left with confused about what this body of work meant. There was a repetition of symbols through out his paintings, such as wrestlers embracing, medicine bottles, a wrapped hand, a boxing ringing, and X's. This was something that I had never seen before. After he spoke about his experiences and being diagnosed as having Schizophrenia I was so amazed because I would have never been about to tell. I think its amazing that he has come out of a really dark place and is a  functioning person making really interesting artwork for us to admire. Bodett explained what all these symbols meant to him and after he did it as if everyone in the room was able to relate to him in some way.

Diagram of a bug eye

One symbol in particular that showed up in his work that I thought was so neat was a diagram of a bug eye if I'm not mistaken. To Bodett it had a specific meaning about his outlook on life and what he has been through and sometimes it would be shown with x's through it, which gave it a whole other meaning.  The diagram itself is very intricate and many us had no idea what it was so it added this level of curiosity to his work. I'm very inspired by Bodett and he shows that it is possible to over come hardships in life. I have an uncle who is Schizophrenic and I have never been allowed to meet him because he refuses to get help or take medicine so its refreshing for me to see that a person can take this illness into their control. Bodett's work is a great release for him and I hope he will continue with is art because there is strong meaning behind it that is inspiring.