If you’ve been to Barcelona, Marseille or Cincinatti, and spotted a dazzling pattern of geometric colours covering a wall of the city’s architecture, then chances are you’ve seen one of Matt W. Moore artworks. The Portland-based illustrator and graphic designer, who now operates through the one-man MWM Studio, is the pioneer of a style called ‘vector funk’, and has exhibited his bold, colourful designs on both canvas and wall within cities around the world. Like many instinctive visual artists, it all started with doodles on the back of notebooks during hazy days at school. ‘I was obsessively doodling,’ says Matt, ‘every notebook in school was filled up with illustrations.’ As he grew up, pen and pad evolved into spray paint and concrete wall, and Matt became immersed in the discipline of graffiti.

His moniker at first was ‘Retrospect’, but this soon changed to ‘Retro’ (‘I quickly learned it was far too long to paint,’ he says). It then changed again, to ‘Reone’, as another street artist in California already had the name. As he grew older, his designs matured. He became more and more comfortable with using spray cans, and developed an interest in a much more abstract style. He dropped his street moniker, and began focusing on the shapes he painted. He also went to college and learned how to create graphics digitally. He studied a technique called vector illustration, which helped him develop a more academic and mathematical process in his work. ‘I’m now channeling all this knowledge and vocabulary back into handmade art and mural painting,’ says Matt.

I’ll go to a new city I’ve usually never been to, with no artwork with me, and an exhibition coming up within a month.

The result is what has become his signature style: a visual language of geometric shapes filled with bold, bright blocks of primary colour. He calls this ‘vectorfunk’, and the term has since become a way to describe all graphic art of this genre – a measure of the extent of his influence. He’s since had brands knocking on his door to collaborate, creating graphics for the identities of clothing brand Ecko, and for skateboard brands Nike SB and DC Shoes. He still finds time for his handmade art though, much of which is produced during his extensive travels. Every six months he journeys to a new city to take up a six month residency to create original work inspired by his new surroundings. It’s no holiday, however. ‘I’ll go to a new city I’ve usually never been to, with no artwork with me, and an exhibition coming up within a month,’ says Matt. ‘I’ll work like a madman.’ In April 2011, he spent time in Cincinnati in the US.

In winter 2010 he spent a month in Paris. And in 2008, he spent time in Brazil. But one of his favourite destinations remains Barcelona. There’s a warm reception to his art, he says. ‘There’s a lot to be said for a place where a mural can be enjoyed by a mother and kid who walk by it,’ says Matt. Matt is now about to embark on an entirely new venture: designing furniture. ‘I’m taking ideas from my work and applying them to functional objects,’ he says. Expect to see chairs, tables and hand-blown glass door knobs, all bearing his signature geometry. But that’s not to say he’ll hang up his spray paints just yet. His handmade work continues to interest and inspire him. ‘I look at my fine art as moonlighting, with those late nights and weekends in the studio,’ says Matt. ‘It recharges me.’

http://www.mwmgraphics.com/