Art Map Burlington Article

Matt Thorsen at Speaking Volumes

Matthew Thorsen’s photography is familiar to many Burlingtonians. His work has been featured in the venerable Burlington weekly Seven Days for years. The photos exhibited at Speaking Volumes, the books-vinyl-art store down a bumpy driveway off Pine Street, allow viewers a wider angle on Thorsen’s aesthetic tastes. Speaking Volumes often has live music for First Friday Art Walk openings, and this February’s--the official opening of Thorsen’s show--is no exception. Electric Halo will be playing the loft-balcony that overlooks the interior of the store.

The balcony’s floor describes a dividing line between the stacks of books and record albums below and the office above. Three of Thorsen’s larger-format photos adorn the railing. Each roughly wood-framed photo depicts a group of Greenwich Village Halloween attendees, humans and the life-sized Bread and Puppet puppets. In the first photo (28”x12”, archival digital inkjet print mounted on painted wood, 2000), bright scarlet figures with hood-like white papier-mâché heads lean on their control bars--an infernal gathering of cardinals. In another photograph (28”x12”, archival digital inkjet print mounted on painted wood, 2000), seven bloated figures recalling a Gunther von Hagens plastinated corpse exhibit splayed limbs, control bars and enormous breasts across the tarmac awaiting their performance. Sandwiched in between these photographs is a shot of mounted New York Police Department officers (36”x12”, archival digital inkjet print mounted on painted wood, 2000), a mise en scène of The Magnificent Seven. Brawny horseflesh and armed men bend into the photo preparing to trample the viewer. Thorsen has arranged the subjects of each three shots similarly, in symmetrically-sized frames, bookending the police posse with two groups of puppets.

All of the award-winning photographer’s work is available for sale. Many share interstitial space with the myriad paintings, decorative frames, antiques and errata which vault up and around Art Walkers who find their way to this valuable resource of a store.

LEE T. FREEMAN

		February 2008 V.3-N.2
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Dad Measuring His Tears by Matt Thorsen 16”x20” archival inkjet print 2005 45. Speaking Volumes 377 Pine Street (next to Myer’s Bagels) (802) 540-0107		Matt Thorsen at Speaking Volumes Matthew Thorsen’s photography is familiar to many Burlingtonians. His work has been featured in the venerable Burlington weekly Seven Days for years. The photos exhibited at Speaking Volumes, the books-vinyl-art store down a bumpy driveway off Pine Street, allow viewers a wider angle on Thorsen’s aesthetic tastes. Speaking Volumes often has live music for First Friday Art Walk openings, and this February’s--the official opening of Thorsen’s show--is no exception. Electric Halo will be playing the loft-balcony that overlooks the interior of the store. The balcony’s floor describes a dividing line between the stacks of books and record albums below and the office above. Three of Thorsen’s larger-format photos adorn the railing. Each roughly wood-framed photo depicts a group of Greenwich Village Halloween attendees, humans and the life-sized Bread and Puppet puppets. In the first photo (28”x12”, archival digital inkjet print mounted on painted wood, 2000), bright scarlet figures with hood-like white papier-mâché heads lean on their control bars--an infernal gathering of cardinals. In another photograph (28”x12”, archival digital inkjet print mounted on painted wood, 2000), seven bloated figures recalling a Gunther von Hagens plastinated corpse exhibit splayed limbs, control bars and enormous breasts across the tarmac awaiting their performance. Sandwiched in between these photographs is a shot of mounted New York Police Department officers (36”x12”, archival digital inkjet print mounted on painted wood, 2000), a mise en scène of The Magnificent Seven. Brawny horseflesh and armed men bend into the photo preparing to trample the viewer. Thorsen has arranged the subjects of each three shots similarly, in symmetrically-sized frames, bookending the police posse with two groups of puppets. All of the award-winning photographer’s work is available for sale. Many share interstitial space with the myriad paintings, decorative frames, antiques and errata which vault up and around Art Walkers who find their way to this valuable resource of a store. LEE T. FREEMAN

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