About Matt Eich
Fine art photographer Matt Eich is a storyteller. His subject: the American condition. He has been examining this on a macro and micro scale, traveling and photographing his own family. Whomever is on the other side of the lens, Eich's connections are intimate. Their gruffness makes them honest and palpable. They tug on familiarity. To see this work is to become implicated in its story. His are the stories of all of us.
New Work by Matt Eich
This selection of photographs by Matt Eich draws on several long-form bodies of work with the intent to foreshadow upcoming projects and directions. Far from inclusive, this set of photographs attempts to shed light on the artist’s range and shift in emotional tenor. Images here draw from evolving and unreleased projects and recent publications and exhibitions.
Among the photographs selected from Matt Eich’s new work sample photographs from the fourth and final volume of The Invisible Yoke: Vol. IV : We, The Free and Say Hello to Everybody, OK?. These projects have monographs expected to release in spring and fall of 2024, respectively. We, The Free completes a nearly two-decade study of the American Condition, explored by the artist since he was an undergraduate in Ohio. With foresight and instinct, the artist has grown into the project he began as a young man, before he was married and had children. Eich’s work continues to carry an interest in the wide-view and the micro-focus; his artistic practice follows major themes and dramas in American culture alongside his own interpersonal dynamics. We previously saw this harmony within and between projects through The Invisible Yoke and I Love You, I’m Leaving. These projects bookended, new approaches and tandem works are evolving.
The beginnings of Matt Eich’s new artistic directions can be seen in Grace Notes and Bird Song Over Black Water. These ongoing projects draw inspiration from poetry and song; they hold hope and anxiety for a future that feels frozen between enlightenment and calamity. Like holding your breath, it can only be done so long. The artist’s impulse towards moment leads the work from one image to the next. Dark, mysterious, moody - these works are subtle and emotional. Charged with anticipation. Beautiful and painterly, they could move with us in any direction. Are we now creating a future we wish to occupy, or merely passing through time and space?
Explore additional recent works by Matt Eich included in a 2020 Gallery exhibition Small Beginnings and Sunlight, Shadow, and a Rainbow, which debuted at The Cleveland Museum of Art in 2022 as part of the FRONT Triennial.
We encourage you to engage Matt Eich’s work further. Please follow the link rich text for additional related images, visit the artist’s website for context by project, or acquire existing and upcoming publications. Contact us directly with inquiries about individual images or portfolio acquisitions. Additional image sets can be sent to correspond with your areas of interest.
The Invisible Yoke : Photographs by Matt Eich
Four volumes fall under an overarching body of contemporary work The Invisible Yoke: Carry Me Ohio, Sin & Salvation in Baptist Town, The Seven Cities, and We, the Free. Carry Me Ohio exhibited at the gallery in 2016 and Sin & Salvation in Baptist Town in 2018; the latter was reviewed by Leah Ollman for Photograph Magazine. Eich’s projects are the result of extended studies. Each of these chapters are committed to publication with Swiss publisher Sturm & Drang.
The Invisible Yoke : vol. I : Carry Me Ohio by Matt Eich
The Invisible Yoke : vol. II : Sin & Salvation in Baptist Town by Matt Eich
The Invisible Yoke : vol. III : The Seven Cities by Matt Eich
I Love You, I'm Leaving by Matt Eich
Matt Eich’s I Love You, I’m Leaving is a meditation on familial bonds, longing, and memory. The photographic series borrows from personal experience and the visual language of the everyday. Matt Eich’s vernacular style images have an immediacy and harmony with our own lives. In this work, Matt Eich creates a fictional account that mirrors reality. Eich made this work during a time of personal domestic unease; he photographed as his parents separated, and his family moved to a new city.
Artist Matt Eich holds an MFA in Photography from Hartford Art School’s International Program, and a BS from Ohio University. The internationally recognized photographer accepts commissions to support his personal work and young family; some projects have become impetus that seed deeper views and longer studies, including Carry Me Ohio and Sin and Salvation in Baptist Town. When Eich hones in on a project, he dedicates years to it, returning again and again to the communities he documents until he becomes part of them himself. He has received grant support from such notable sources as The Alexia Foundation, the Aaron Siskind Foundation, NPPA, National Geographic Magazine, and two Getty Images Grants. His work is in the permanent collections of The Museum of Fine Arts Houston, The Portland Art Museum, Light Work, and the The New York Public Library, among others.
