Mata Ruda

Street Artist Biography

Wheat Paste

Name: Mata Ruda

Place of Birth: San Jose, Costa Rica

Currently Living: Brooklyn, New York

Street Art Type: Wheat Paste

About: Mata Ruda is street artist currently based in Brooklyn, New York City. The intention of his work is to memorialize the nobodies, the ignored, the socially and culturally overlooked, those who in our society are consider the "others", by creating large portraits with symbols and objects (such as textile patterns, stars, moons, maps, artifacts, etc) that expose and celebrate stories that otherwise would go unnoticed.

Quote: "We can't understand what is happening to 'something' if we aren't looking but nothing is going to happen to that 'something' if we don't look deeply. That's why so many things with incredible potential go unnoticed.....because nobody bothers to look." - Alejandro González Iñárritu.

Objective: Mata Ruda is all about the magical moments, that occur constantly all around us, to him they are magical and more real than what culturally we accept as "reality". He is currently working on a series of very large portraits commemorating contemporary people (with black and brown as opposed to black on white paper) in reference to the colossal Olmec heads and indigenous stone spheres found throughout South America, Central America & Mexico. He plans on having a solo show focused on the "Colossal Series" in the Spring or the Summer of 2013. The show will be called, "Incurable Otherness"

Meaning Behind the Name: Mata Ruda = Spanish for Rue (Herb). Historically, the herb is notorious for its many medicinal AND harmful capabilities. It is also used in throughout Latin America for its spiritual powers of protection against negative energies, and warding of both foreign and internal dark spirits and it can be used to bring luck, guidance, wealth, etc...

Quote: Much of his work has to do with traveling, immigration, and adapting to new worlds/cultures. so when I read this quote by Richard Wright, I decided it was meant to be: "I was leaving the South to fling myself into the unknown...I was taking a part of the South to transplant in alien soil,to see if it could grow differently, if it could drink of new and cool rains,bend in strange winds,respond to the warmth of other suns and, perhaps, to bloom”

Definition: "Mata Ruda" literally translates to "Rough or Hardy Plant", only hardy plants can transplant to alien soil, survive, respond, and bloom..

Admiration: He wanted the name because of my admiration for the work of Pablo Neruda (originally i wanted to be either NERU or RUDA so i decided on RUDA with the word MATA in front so that it would have multiple appropriate meanings.)


More on Mata Ruda

http://mataruda.tumblr.com/

http://instagram.com/mataruda