I’ve been a long time admirer ov Matt Minter’s art. The striking mainly black and white images he produces always struck a cord with me. Harking back to the art ov old hardcore and noise tapes and VHS body horror and giallo movies, they are right up my street. I caught up with Matt and asked him a few questions and he sent over some pics ov his rad art.
Check out more at his website, buy a print or tee HERE and check his instagram worsethanjail.
Who are you and what do you want?
My name is Matt Minter. I live in Lexington, Kentucky. I want to make rad shit and have an audience to show it to. So far I’ve been doing an OK job at accomplishing that.
I’ve long been a fan ov what you do. When did you start publishing your art?
Thank you. I’ve been drawing and painting most of my life. I started circulating my art more heavily during my time in Wretched Worst. I had creative control over most of the band’s output. The art and music went hand in hand, one inspired the other, and vice versa. That lead to creating art for other musicians, and eventually doing art shows.
Your art seems to come from brutal and dark places, would you say this is true and what are your main inspirations?
Brutal and dark, sure. A few years ago I probably tried harder to find a dark and violent tone. Nowadays I don’t really care, if my current work still hits people that way, that’s fine. I’m pretty passionate about film, so that would be a huge inspiration. Horror is a main go-to, but I love most genres. Music and its visual accompaniment would be another inspiration. The art that comes with noise, metal, and hardcore shaped me early on. I’ve been listening to a lot of italo disco shit lately, so the design element that goes with those records has been rubbing off on me.
You do some video work – are you planning to do more?
I would love to do more video work, but the opportunity hasn’t really presented itself. Being in a band was a nice excuse to create those videos, but right now I don’t have any music projects.
You used to play in Hexose and Hair Police, etc – do you ever think ov releasing more music?
Wretched Worst has released a decent amount of music. We’re sitting on an album that was recorded right before we fell apart. I can’t really say if that music will ever see the light of day.
I did another project several years ago called Guilty Feelings. We have a Bandcamp page if anyone is interested in hearing that.
What do you have coming up in 2018?
Currently working on a new art zine. It will feature drawings I’ve compiled over the past three years. Hopefully it will be completed and released before the end of 2018. Working on some album covers, planning on participating in some art shows. Also working on new products for my online store. I want get more work in people’s homes, and on their bodies.
Name some things that are actually worse than jail…
Last year I had a pretty severe and lengthy health crisis that really gave my morale a beat down. It involved six months of being in and out of the hospital, laying on a surgery table, secluding myself, feeling like a sack of meat, less than human. I would rather do some jail time than go through that again.
OK last one – if you could have dinner with 3 people from history (any era) who would you chose and why?
George Romero always seemed like a warm, personable, give-no-fucks, killer dude. Night of the Living Dead was the first horror film I watched at an early age, I think it helped shape me into who I am now.
Andy Warhol seemed like he’d be fun and pleasant dinner company, he’d probably take me someplace great to eat.
Marjorie Cameron for a lot of reasons. Her history, associations, art, and overall amazing presence.
