Inside the Studio
Matthew Schwartz
Favorite material to work with?
Large format Polaroids, slides, and film.
What themes do you pursue?
Whimsical girls, surfing, nature, and travel.
How many years as an artist?
15.
Where is your studio?
Brooklyn, NY and Beacon, NY.
Art school or self-taught?
Self-taught.
Prefer to work with music or in silence?
Lots of music. It is my air.
Where can we find you outside the studio?
At the beach, flea market, or a toy store. I actually consider all of these studios, as they are where the ideas come from.
If you couldn’t be an artist, what would you do?
I would probably still be concentrating on music or writing.
What do you collect?
Vintage toys, interesting props for shoots, and art from friends. I am going through a big late night eBay phase, where I am ordering a lot and justifying it by saying that it will end up in a shoot.
If you could only have one piece of art in your life, what would it be?
A Polaroid camera and boxes of film, so I can make more art. I think in the year 2013 we can call a Polaroid camera art in itself.
Who are your favorite writers?
Charles Bukowski and Ray Bradbury.
Favorite editing software (if any)?
All cropping and color adjustments happen in the camera, while I’m shooting. My goal is to keep everything raw and natural.
Camera type?
Large format Polaroid, (8×10) Polaroid land camera, and 35 mm Nikon/Canon.
Natural or artificial light?
Natural.
Film or digital?
Film.
Aperture or Lightroom?
Is this editing software?
