MATTHEW DAY PEREZ

Matthew Day Perez works with a diverse set of media: glass, printed matter, digital media, installation, and neon. In his current body of fused works, he uses detritus from previous castings to compose piles and gradients. By using cast-offs and broken pieces to create rubble-filled landscapes, he points to the ‘other’ and exalts the beauty of the defective.  Drawn to the shiny, reflective and slick surface of the mirror, he uses the silvering process to heighten the highly textured, fused surfaces, creating illusory space and depth.  The pieces act as an exploded disco ball: reflecting and refracting the light around them.   His work from this series is currently included in the 2019 New Glass Now exhibition, the comprehensive juried global survey of the state of contemporary glass, which is on view at the Corning Museum of Glass through January 5, 2020.   

Day Perez received a BFA from Illinois State University and an MFA from the Rhode Island School of Design.  He is the recipient of a Fulbright Scholarship, the National Endowment for the Arts Renna Arts Scholarship, a U.S. Department of State Grant for new works, a Lois Roth Endowment Award, and has completed residencies at the Corning Museum of Glass, Creative Glass Center of America, Pilchuck Glass School, and Bullseye Glass Company.  Day Perez has lectured at Temple University’s Tyler School of Art in Philadelphia, PA and at the Rhode Island School of Design, Providence, RI. 

 Matthew Day Perez is the founder of FagSigns, an inclusive neon studio based in Brooklyn, NY, that strives to erode barriers to the creative sector.