ABOVE: Photos by Anne Staveley. Video clips courtesy of Highborn Spirits.
J. Matthew Thomas
J. Matthew Thomas (b. 1976) is an artist and architect who grew up in the Midwest United States. Thomas explores the intersections of queerness within the built environment, reimagining landscape, infrastructure, and community engagement through a multidisciplinary approach spanning art, curation, public art and events, architecture, and urban design.
He received his MA in Architecture and Urban Design from Columbia University in New York City, and currently operates his practice through Studio Taos, and the nonprofit he founded, The Paseo Project.
Thomas has taught at architecture departments at Columbia University, American University in Beirut, The New School, and at Chongqing University.
His work has been included in exhibitions in KOHI-Kulturraum, Germany; Storefront for Art and Architecture and Vivian Horan Fine Art, New York City; Joshua Tree, California; Santa Fe Art Institute; and the Harwood Museum, New Mexico. Solo shows include Central Features, Albuquerque; and Taos Art Museum, New Mexico.
Thomas is a MacDowell Fellow and was an artist in residence at I-Park, Connecticut; Ucross, Wyoming; StudioWorks in Eastport, Maine; Santa Fe Art Institute; Arteles Creative Center in Finland; The PORT Hackathon at CERN, Switzerland; and Art Farm in Nebraska.
Thomas currently resides in Taos, New Mexico with his husband and 40 chickens.
ART EXHIBITIONS
2024
MoMo, Santa Fe, NM. solo show
Currents New Media Festival, group show
2023
Currents 826 Gallery, Santa Fe, NM. "Resonances," group show
Encore Gallery, Taos, NM. "Viewpoint: Abstract Minimalism," group show
2022
La Matadora Gallery, Joshua Tree, CA. "re·con·fig·ure," group show
Wright Contemporary, Taos, NM. "New Geometries," group show
Taos Abstract Artist Collective, Taos, NM. "Inaugural Exhibition," group show
2021
Taos Art Museum at Fechin House, solo show
Residency as Witness: SFAI 2014-2021, Santa Fe Art Institute, group show
2020
Contemporary Art Taos 2020, Harwood Museum of Art, Taos, NM, group show
Taos Today, Western Art Gallery, Dallas TX, group show
2019
Muted, Taos Center for the Arts, Taos, NM, solo show
2018
Taos: 1960s - Present, Vivian Horan Fine Art, New York, NY, group show
2017
Meditations on the Many, Magpie, Taos, NM, solo show
2016
Geometries, Central Features Contemporary Art, Albuquerque, NM, solo show
2015
Song of the West-Contemporary Artists of New Mexico, KOHI-Kulturraum, Germany, group show
Art in Public Places, Taos Art Council, Taos, NM, solo artist
Art of Wine, Harwood Museum of Art, Taos, NM, resident artist
Taos Fall Arts Festival, Taos, NM, Visionary Artist Award Recipient, solo show
2014
The Spring Experiment, DAFA, Taos, NM, solo show
2013
Once, Arroyo Seco, NM, solo show
2012
Arte des Descartes, Taos, NM, group show
Taos Fall Arts Festival, Taos, NM, group show
2010
Storefront for Art and Architecture, Total Housing 01:
Apartments Competition, New York, NY, group show
RESIDENCY & AWARDS
2024 Residency, NES, Skagaströnd, Iceland
2023 Residency, I-Park, East Haddam, Connecticut
2022 Residency, MacDowell, Peterborough, New Hampshire
Residency, Ucross Foundation, Clearmont, Wyoming
2021 Residency, StudioWorks, Eastport, Maine
2020 Residency, Art Farm, Marquette, Nebraska
Residency, Santa Fe Art Institute, New Mexico
2019 Residency, Arteles Creative Center in Finland
2018 Residency, Vermont Studio Center, Johnson, Vermont
2015 Selected Participant, The PORT Hackathon at CERN, Geneva, Switzerland
Visionary Artist Award, The Peter & Madelaine Martin Foundation
2010 Storefront for Art and Architecture, Total Housing 01: Apartments Competition.
Invited juror for Ucross, I-Park, StudioWorks, and the Wurlitzer Foundation.
PUBLICATIONS/ARTICLES
2050 Podcast Interview, Radio Paradise, 2024 (forthcoming)
Reframed: Matthew Thomas Solo Exhibition, Classic Chicago Magazine, Feb 2022.
Reframed: a Fechin inspired installation, Taos News, Dec 2021.
Contemporary up-and-comers breath new life, Taos News, Sept 2020.
Interview: Nicole Dial-Kay, Curator, Harwood Museum of Art
Twenty Que With J. Matthew Thomas, Riot Material, Dec, 2019.
"Matt Thomas Builds Surfaces", Taos News, Nov 2018.
“Taos: 1960s-Present”, THE Magazine, June 2018.
“Taos in the House”, TaoStyle, April 2018.
“Taos”, Wall Street Journal, April 2018.
“Embracing Obsessions”, Taos News, October 2017.
“James Matthew Thomas At The Harwood”, TaoStyle, September, 2018.
"...New Mexico's Best", Albuquerque Journal, May 2016.
“001. The Works of J. Matthew Thomas,” self-published, January 2016.
"One Smart Cookie," EDIBLE Magazine, Winter Issue, 2016.
"Architecture Progressed," TREND Magazine, Fall Issue, 2015.
"Studio Visits," THE Magazine, Santa Fe, NM, May 2015.
“Richard Spera and Matt Thomas,” TaoStyle, December 2014
Militant Roger Magazine, Vol. 1, Fall 2006.