Fever Dreams: The Art of Matthew Wade

Matthew Wade is a multidisciplinary artist based in Hollywood, CA. His work spans a variety of mediums, including illustration, animation, film and music.

His art is a feverish concoction of characters and scenarios that are offbeat and gleefully unnerving. Combining a sense of primordial dread with an undeniably playful sensibility, he pulls the visitor onto unsure footing and seems to revel as he does so.

Regarding what themes inspire him to create:

“I like to let my work, be it illustration or film or music, just be what I like to look at and hear. I always get my ideas from a purely visual place, typically without any story or context with which to frame them. So the fun is in finding out how they work out on a page. I like to draw things as close to the way they appear in my head as is possible. Same thing with my films.”

Tyrannosaurus Wrexpo by Astronaut In The Aftermath

In addition to his visual art Wade produces experimental electronic music under the name Astronaut In The Aftermath:

“My music comes from an obvious love of electronic sounds, toy instrument from thrift stores and various recording technologies (both digital and analogue).

I was living in Vancouver, BC, when I recorded the Tyrannosaurus Wrexpo album as a way to deal with my insomnia. Our apartment had an amazing view, so being up all night was kind of surreal, overlooking Stanley Park and the beach. We also lived on a main street and all kinds of crazy stuff happened below us. It was a cool place to create from. I was making a soundtrack to the images in the windows.”

Keep up with Matthew Wade at Matthewade.com