Becoming The Muse

Coffee With The Artist Known As M.

If you were having coffee with me, we would be having a coffee chat with The Artist Know as M aka Matt Snyder of the blog iMartist. Lets get to it…. ☕

Coffee or tea ?

Both, although I prefer flavored coffee over regular coffee. But now and again I’ll take a strong espresso. I can drink it hot or cold brew with skim milk or flavored creamer and 2 packs of truvia, if truvia is unavailable, one pack of sugar.

I used to be an avid tea drinker, used to buy leaves from a joint called Teavanna. Now I just drink it iced, no sweetener, with lemon.

What’s the most peculiar or unexpected place your creativity has ever “ambushed” you, like an idea leaping out from behind the sofa as if it were Nigel?

A few years back I did a series of drawings of Serial Killers, which was Ok, untill I researched Charles Ng & Leonard Lake, there is a video on YouTube of  the emotional torture of their victims along with this quote from Ng ” You can cry, scream, pray and beg for mercy but that just gets us more excited, for me it’s the torture for him it’s sexual.” As an empath I took this statement to heart and imagined being the victim. It took me to a horrifying place. I abandoned the series after drawing this particular duo.

If Nigel suddenly became your creative director, what would be the first radical change he’d insist on for your art?

He’d insist I start drawing birds again… which isn’t too radical. If he insisted on realism I’d quit the job.

It’s a hundred years from now, and a digital archivist intern is cataloguing materials recovered from your website. What misleading conclusion would they make based on what they find about The Artist Known As M?

I have a weird sense of humour, they may get the impression that I was more weird than normal. They might also try to decipher what being Straight & Slightly bent means. Because that phrase can be interpreted in many ways.

In a parallel universe, what unexpected reality would you be living?

I’d be a very outgoing gym rat/healthy eating nut, married young, living in my dream house, working in the film industry.

What’s the strangest compliment (or critique) you’ve ever received about your work?

I did painting sort of like the drawing above, except it was painted in acrylics with different shades of red. I called it “Depressed Pig” it was an animal interpretation of me at the time. At a showing of it on exhibit I overheard one woman explain to another what the artist was trying to convey. She said “It’s pretty obvious that the artist is vegan and this painting is a statement on how cruel meat farming is.”

To date, what’s your proudest moment as a human, creative, husband and cat dad… or all three?

First off that’s four things 🤣
I can’t combine husband and cat dad.

My proudest moment was having my art blown up to billboard size on exhibit for a year along a greenway path near Lehigh University. It was sponsored by the University to pair local artists with well known pieces in relatively the same style. In this case I was paired with American Painter Lester Johnson.

If Nigel P. Kitty were to suddenly become able to operate a typewriter and started writing memoirs about life with you, how would that read?

B You must love our cat?, never had an interview of sorts where Nigel has been the focus.

The title would be: Life is grand (How to annoy the shit out of a human but still be showered with affection.)

You know a bucket list, right? Now forget the things you want to do. What are some of the things you never want to do… or did but will never repeat.

I had originally wanted to go to a local nude resort when I lost enough weight and when that was achieved, the pandemic happened and now the thought of being around easily accesible germs really skeeves me out, I will never do this.

I don’t want take a cruise either for essentially the same reason. As of the last decade, it seems there is always mass intestinal illness amongst the passengers of every cruise. No thanks.

You’ve worn many hats, literally and metaphorically. Which one would you wear to meet your teenage self, and what would you say to him?

•Ask for help when needed
•Don’t try to fit in
•Listen more
•Go with your gut feeling
•Trust me, life will probably be less of a challenge if you take this advice to heart

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Thank you for being a great sport, its been awesome getting this side of you. ☕

PS I have a hand drawn Christmas card from yesteryear with Nigel The Nutcracker, how can I not feature him? 😂