| A Snapshot of Matt |
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| The Quick and not so Dirty I'm about as checkered a dog as you can come by. I'm German by birth (Berlin, 1947), grew up in the US, then went back to Berlin during the 60's to find my roots, only to come back to the US via England (Cambridge, from where I have my PhD) and Ireland, where I lived in Dublin and taught at Trinity College, Dublin. Since 1986, I have been living in Washington, DC. As far as my 'nine-to-five' is concerned, I specialize in the development of what is called "Enterprise Architecture" (EA). EA is a relatively new feeld in the information technology arena and seeks to describe the glue that makes systems and processes hang together (or not). It's purpose is to help organizations (particulary federal agencies) make wise investment decisions as they modernize their technology. As such, it makes alot of sense, given how much money frequently goes to waste on projects that just don't meet the user's needs. Past careers include being a Professor of German and, for a while, even a Benedictine Monk! Despite my rather radical career change, I still pursue my intellectual and spiritual interests, taking a particular interest in iconography and the role of icons in prayer. If you have to try to put me into a box, I'm quite comfortable in the one provided by the Myers-Briggs personality typology, which classifies me as Introverted, iNtuitive, Thinking, Perceiving. The latter is a shift from my earlier classification as 'Judging', but I guess that comes with age, as I nowadays tend to 'wait and see what the facts say' before I make up my mind. Personal Interests and Preoccupations Moving on from who I am and what makes me tick to the things I like to do... Although I've always taken an interest in things artistic and culture in general, over the years I've become more and more passionate about art and find great pleasure meeting contemporary artists and acquiring their work. But maybe that is in my blood, since both my parents were artists and one of my sisters a fashion designer in Germany, not to mention the fact that my nephew's wife is an accomplished digital artist, who also teaches in Berlin. In addition, my other sister has taken up various arts and crafts techniques in recent years. Leaving me almost 'the odd one out' in terms of artistic creativity. Artists whose work I find of particular interest include two very different Afro-American artists that are my approximate contemporaries, Sheila Crider and Morgan Monceaux, some of whose work has recently been acquired by the National Portrait Gallary, and a young local Punk artist, Jason Powell, who won first place in the Summer 2002 juried show at the Touchstone Gallery in Washington, DC; the Canadians Peter Flinsch, Christian Bibeau, and Yvon Goulet; and the Dutch Artist Hans Abbing, who wrote a fascinating study on the subject: Why are Artists Poor? Another Washington artist, who'se work has interesded me for some time is Brian Petro, who specializes particularly in collages employing the technique of polymer transfer and whose work I first encountered in my gym, which regularly hosts exhibitions of local artists. An unforseen shift in my artistic interests was initiated through a painting I acquired at an open air Art Fair during a recent trip to Amsterdam. The painting (Night and Day) is a mixed media seascape by the Dutch artist, Nicolaas C.J. van Beek, who integrates his skill as a jeweller with his skill as a painter in his surrealist paintings, that evoke the tradition of Duch art of earlier centuries while being totally modern both in concept and execution. I shall follow his career with great interest. Although it's presence in my collection is not a total departure in scope, this piece has revitalized my interest in landscape art as a whole, though in quite a different direction represented through some of my earlier pieces, as I am now beginning to focus on works that I would describe as 'decomposing the landscape', from a technical or philosophical perspective. Where these artists have web sites of their own, I've provided the link on my Favorite Links page. Needless to say, this list is neither exclusive nor in any way exhaustive, which is also why I've included some of the art oriented search engines I regularly use to research artists across whom I've stumbled in one way or another. In fact it is through these search engines that I was able to uncover details on two artists I met back in my teens, Chris Huntington and Anthony Vajs (1938-1979), with whom I spent several weeks in the small town of Corea, Maine, and who belong to the group of landscape artists for which Maine is quite famous. I not only have a 'passive' interest as a collector, I occasionally put pen to paper myself and write the odd poem of my own. However, since most of these are in German, I will not inflict them on you here. I also love to cook, to entertain, and to dine out, whether alone or with friends. Beyond that, I enjoy travelling and am pretty widely read, in part because of my teaching past and in part because I can hardly ever pass by a bookshop without looking to see what is new. On the sports side, I am pretty dedicated to working out and I also love to sail, though that seems to be a sport whose financial requirements conflict with my other interests. As time allows, I also try to cultivate my small garden, attempting to recreate the English cottage gardens I learned to love during my years in that country. In addition to these more private interests I take an active interest in the community at large and I am active in my church. Over the years, I've also worked on the Gay and Lesbian Hotline sponsored by the local Whitman Walker Clinic, and tutored for SOME, a local organization for the homeless. However, other than my involvement in my church community, this type of social activism appears to have faded into the background -- in part, because the needs of the clients have changed, in part, because I decided it was time to move on. I've also been fairly involved in the social life of the local Gay community, especially the Highwaymen TNT, whose brotherhood has meant much to me over the years, and in the local chapter of the national organization for Black and White Men Together (BWMT), a group devoted to consciousness raising and providing an opportunity for networking and mutual support through regular pot lucks and social get togethers. In a more passive way, I also support the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) and the Human Rights Campaign (HRC), commitments that I think are particularly important at a time when our human rights are being attacked from every quarter. Sadly, we in DC have virtually no political rights on the national scene and Congress intereferes with our local politics just because they can -- and in the current climate, it does not look like that will change anytime soon. That's probably more than you ever wanted to know! At least that's all I'm telling you here. After all, you are probably a complete stranger. If you're not a stranger, you already know the more sordid details of my life. On the other hand, if you don't want to remain a stranger, e-mail me and let's get a conversation going. You know the drill. Hit the E-Mail Me button on the right hand side at the top of this page and type your message. Once you click the 'Send' button, we're off to a start! If you like my site, or even if you don't think that much of it, let me know you came by and sign my guestbook. Go on, make my day! |
| Life is like a Bowl of Cherries! |
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| A veritable goldmine of information about DC |
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