Gordon-Matta Clark

Gordon Matta-Clark was an artist whose media ranged from buildings to photographs to food. He was well known in the 1970s for co-founding Food with Carol Gooden, a restaurant in Soho, which at the time was a shabby, run-down factory area. The restaurant became an enclave for artists, and Matta-Clark frequently cooked dishes that blurred the line between art and dining. His artistic pieces also mixed food and traditional art, such as frying Polaroids in oil with gold leaf. Matta-Clark’s efforts helped establish the Soho art community, and his work often used the abandoned buildings of his surroundings. He would find buildings that were scheduled to be destroyed and then carve out pieces of them, which he called “anarchitecture.” In one instance, he carved away pieces of a neglected pier for two months without notice. When the city found out, they sued him, but the lawsuit was dropped. Matta-Clark died of cancer at the young age of 35.