During the Minnesota winter, grit and snow gradually accumulate in the wheel wells of moving cars. Layer upon layer, these materials fuse into icy formations, conforming to the contours of the host vehicle. Regular snowfall and the persistent cold encourage these parasitic travelers to grow so dense and large that they interfere with steering. But as the season wears on, they inevitably dislodge or are kicked off vehicles into streets, driveways, and parking lots where they are crushed or eventually melted.
These photographs represent a collection of these objects found in the winter of 2010-2011, the fifth snowiest on record.
Andy Mattern, Photographer
~ ~ ~
Andy Mattern is a visual artist based in Albuquerque, New Mexico. His work observes the unwitting collaboration between people, consumer products, and the built environment. Without focusing directly on human subjects, but instead the traces we leave behind, he puts an undue emphasis on the unintentional aspects of our experience.
His work has been exhibited at Photo Center NW (Seattle), Box 13 Artspace (Houston), the Lawndale Art Center (Houston), DeVos Art Museum (Marquette, MI), Okay Mountain (Austin, TX), Katherine E. Nash Gallery (Minneapolis), Prøve Gallery (Duluth, MN), and the Peri Centre for Photography (Turku, Finland). He has received grants from the Minnesota State Arts Board, Art Shanty Projects, and Springboard for the Arts. His work is included in the collections of Photo Center NW (Seattle), BMO Harris Bank (Minneapolis) and the Tweed Museum of Art (Duluth).
He holds a BFA in studio art from the University of New Mexico (Albuquerque) and an MFA in photography from the University of Minnesota (Minneapolis). He currently teaches photography an an adjunct lecturer at the University of New Mexico and is a contributing faculty member at the Santa Fe University of Art and Design.
the museum of americana: A LITERARY REVIEW 