Philly boy Matt Haffner rocks the MOCA

The Web site for the award-winning alternative weekly, the Philadelphia City Paper.

options

Philly boy Matt Haffner rocks the MOCA

POSTED: Wednesday, July 15, 2009, 10:38 PM

Filed Under: Arts

Last we heard from Matt Haffner, he was making wicked mixed-media works inspired by our city's overlooked neighborhoods, and exhibiting them at Proximity Gallery. Lauren F. Friedman covered the opening back in March:

Haffner ' who was a Philly-based street photographer before moving to Atlanta ' came back to his hometown, armed with a camera and an intimate knowledge of the city's architecture and culture. He then took photographs from that trip ' of dilapidated buildings, telephones wires, crumbling storefronts, back alleys and train platforms ' and layered them under ink drawings of people and things that were not actually there. Beneath a sheet of white mylar, the photographs themselves look doused in milk and not quite real, and the black-line drawings ' of facades that have disappeared, children jumping rope in abandoned streets, birds in an empty sky ' force you to wonder what could have been.

Now, it turns out, he's gotten all big on us and is exhibiting at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Georgia, which gave him several rooms to work with. Haffner doesn't stray too much from his formula ' he projects video onto massive pieces of cut-up paper, essentially creating a larger, living version of the photographs that he layered on top of line drawings at Proximity. Also, the videos move ' birds chirp, planes fly by and hawks circle around ' making me wish I could see it for myself even more. Click the jump to see more of Haffner's stuff from MOCA, including his incredible, huge paper works.

The pieces above and below are completely made up of cut-up pieces of paper. Crazy, right?

And another work using video projection:

Posted by Holly Otterbein @ 10:38 PM Permalink | Post a comment

Comments (0)

Q&A with SHARI SOLANIS: "The goal isn't pornography"
What we're trying to do this weekend
SEXY TIME Q&A: I've never had an orgasm during sex with a man — and I'm 30!
NOW SEE THIS: Transit cop arrests marijuana activist for alleged disorderly conduct.
CONCERT REVIEW: Primus (3D & quadraphonic sound) @ The Tower 10/17
Q&A with Tony Goldwyn: "Life is gray, and relationships are, too"
ICEPACK ILLUSTRATED: The Archbishop meets the Geator, the Mayor goes suit shopping, Le Bec Fin fin.
ICE CUBE: In Memoriam: Joe Tartaglia
SWIMMING HOLES: Some of our favorite places to get wet
NOW SEE THIS: Tim and Eric direct Terry Crews for Old Spice

About this blog

Featuring everything from event roundups to concert reviews and sex talk, City Paper's Critical Mass is a space for off-the-wall coverage of Philly's A&E scene.

Follow Critical Mass editors Patrick Rapa and Emily Guendelsberger on Twitter:

@mission2denmark | @emilygee

Search this blog:

Topics:

Blog archives:

May
April
March

February
January

Past Archives: