Matthew Hoffman (artist)

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Matthew Hoffman
Matthew Hoffman, Artist
Born (1979-07-25) July 25, 1979 (age 44)
Rockford, Ohio
NationalityAmerican
EducationBall State University (BA)
OccupationPublic artist

Matthew Hoffman (born July 25, 1979) is an American public artist and designer based in Chicago. He is known for You Are Beautiful, an art project that ranges from stickers to large-scale public sculptures.

Early life[edit]

Matthew Hoffman was born in Rockford, Ohio. In 2001, he earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in graphic design from Ball State University.

Career[edit]

You Are Beautiful[edit]

You Are Beautiful Sticker

Hoffman refers to himself as the "custodian" of the You Are Beautiful Project,[1] which began in 2002 as a street art sticker campaign with 100 stickers he distributed to friends, who placed them in public spaces around the world.[2] "The original idea behind the project was just to create a simple, positive, affirming message – just to say 'you are beautiful, you're perfect as you are.' Like, everything's OK," Hoffman said in an interview for OWN's Super Soul Sunday television series.[3]

"I wanted to create the perfect positive message that you could share with everyone," he said in an interview.[4] Initially he remained anonymous, referring to the project as "international collective."[5] Since inception, it is estimated that over 8.5 million stickers have been distributed in hundreds of languages.[6] The stickers have been posted in locations around the world, on all seven continents.

You are beautiful installation in English and Chinese in Chicago's Chinatown neighborhood

In addition to stickers, Hoffman and collaborators have created both commissioned and noncommissioned murals and installations in a variety of mediums, including paint, plywood and mixed media. In a notable early example, the message is painted at the top of the Rice Mill Lofts in New Orleans, Louisiana. In 2006, Hoffman collaborated with more than 100 local artists to create a temporary installation on the pedestrian pedway wall during construction at Block 37.[7][8]

There are more than 100 permanent You Are Beautiful public art pieces on display globally, with the greatest concentration located in the Chicago area, such as a billboard-sized replica of a You Are Beautiful sticker erected in 2015 on South Lake Shore Drive in the Oakland neighborhood, installations on fences in Andersonville and Englewood, and on the exterior of the Elmhurst Art Museum in Elmhurst, Illinois.[9][10][11][12] In 2014, the Buffalo AKG Art Museum commissioned a series of billboards placed throughout Erie County featuring a version of the You Are Beautiful sticker design.[13] In 2017, Hoffman launched a successful crowdfunding campaign to place a You Are Beautiful public sculpture in all 50 states.[14]

In 2022, Hoffman was commissioned by shopping mall owner Brookfield Properties to conceive and produce the You Are Beautiful Experience, an interactive exhibit that toured the company's shopping centers in St. Louis, Missouri; Murray, Utah; Las Vegas, Nevada, Frisco, Texas, Atlanta, Georgia; Durham, North Carolina; and Norwalk, Connecticut.[6][15][16]

In 2023, You Are Beautiful produced an edition of stickers in braille. "Every single person deserves to be treated with kindness and compassion, and be reminded of their value and worth. At the heart of the You Are Beautiful project is to constantly be innovating to find ways to interject positivity into daily life for everyone," Hoffman said.[17]

Other works[edit]

Hoffman's work typically depicts words or phrases rendered in two- or three-dimensional text, often in a cursive font based on the artist's handwriting.

In 2015, real estate brokerage and technology firm @properties commissioned Hoffman to paint a mural on its Chicago headquarters. The mural features the word "love" in a cursive script based on Hoffman's handwriting.[18] The design was turned into magnets and other promotional items for the company, and was incorporated into a new mural by artist Lefty Out There in 2021.[19]

In 2016, Hoffman installed a sculpture titled May This Never End along the fence of the Rose Kennedy Greenway in Boston.[20] The piece was recognized as one of the best public artworks of the year in the Americans for the Arts' Public Art Network Year in Review.[21][22] The full text of the piece reads:

Nothing's for keeps. Except that we must keep going. You'll spend your entire life searching, ok? We all want to belong. So let's all get along. Make the most, and hope. May this never end.

The Arts Commission of Greater Toledo commissioned a sculpture for its 2019 Momentum arts festival. The sculpture features the phrases "You Are Beautiful" on one side and "You Are Doing Great" on the other. After the festival concluded, the sculpture was moved to a permanent location in International Park in downtown Toledo.[23][24]

Hoffman was commissioned during the COVID-19 pandemic quarantine in 2020 to create a series of sculptures featuring the phrase "We're all in this together," which were placed on 24 buildings in Chicago.[25] In 2021, a sculpture featuring the phrase "You got this" was installed at the Roosevelt Collection Shops in the South Loop neighborhood of Chicago.[1]

Hoffman opened a studio and gallery in the Avondale neighborhood of Chicago in 2018, where You Are Beautiful art, retail products and other artworks are displayed.

Exhibitions[edit]

Selected solo exhibitions[edit]

  • 2019: Wandering Through Words, The Collective, Lafayette, CO
  • 2017: YAB Culture, Galerie F, Chicago, IL
  • 2017: Find Your Way, Workshop 4200, Chicago, IL
  • 2016: From Here, St. Ambrose University Gallery, Davenport, IA
  • 2013: The Next Chapter, Rare Device, San Francisco, CA
  • 2011: Hey, Yes Gallery, Cincinnati, OH
  • 2010: No One Knows How Deep This Goes, Wonder Fair, Lawrence, KS
  • 2009: When All Is Said & Done, Possible Projects, Brooklyn, NY

Selected group exhibitions[edit]

  • 2017: Dibs, Havas Gallery, Chicago, IL
  • 2016: ChicagoMade: Great Ideas Of Humanity, World Business Chicago & Design Museum of Chicago, Hong Kong, China
  • 2015: The Great Create, Nasher Sculpture Center, Dallas, TX
  • 2015: Play, Toledo Museum of Art, Toledo, OH
  • 2014: CHGO DSGN, EXPO Chicago, Chicago, IL
  • 2014: Work at Play, Design Museum of Chicago, Chicago, IL
  • 2012: Share Your Beauty, Mission Cultural Center, San Francisco, CA
  • 2012: Museum Of Temporary Art, See Line, Los Angeles, CA
  • 2011: Write Now: Artist and Letterforms, Chicago Cultural Center, Chicago, IL

See also[edit]

References[edit]

  1. ^ a b Pride, Ray (25 May 2021). "Today in the Culture, May 25, 2021: You Got This / Blocking Muddy Waters Museum / Protest Plywood Art". NewCity. Retrieved 27 February 2023.
  2. ^ Vivanco, Leonor (1 November 2015). "Meet the artist behind the many 'You Are Beautiful' signs around Chicago". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 27 February 2023.
  3. ^ "You Are Beautiful: The Little Sticker That Started a Worldwide Phenomenon". Super Soul Sunday. Season 4. Episode 411. 24 February 2013. 3:18 minutes in. OWN. Retrieved 3 March 2023.
  4. ^ Podrazik, Joan (22 February 2013). "The 'You Are Beautiful' Project: Artist Matthew Hoffman Spreads The Love". Huffington Post. Retrieved 2 March 2023.
  5. ^ Armstrong, Liz (28 April 2005). "The Street Art Shortage". Chicago Reader. Retrieved 27 February 2023.
  6. ^ a b Jayswal, Palak (5 June 2022). "If you're good enough, smart enough ... say it to the mirrors at St. Louis Galleria exhibit". Salt Lake City Tribune. Retrieved 3 March 2023.
  7. ^ "State Street Pedestrian Walkway". Archived from the original on February 22, 2012. Retrieved July 10, 2009.
  8. ^ "A decade of You Are Beautiful". Time Out Chicago. 23 January 2015. Retrieved 2 March 2023.
  9. ^ Zorn, Eric (25 May 2015). "Mystery sign sows cheer on Lake Shore Drive". Chicago Tribune. Retrieved 27 February 2023.
  10. ^ Bloom, Mina (15 April 2015). "'You Are Beautiful' Signs Coming to Andersonville in May". DNAinfo. Retrieved 27 March 2023.
  11. ^ Watson, Andrea (26 October 2015). "Local Artist's 'You Are Beautiful' Display Debuts in Englewood". DNAinfo. Retrieved 27 March 2023.
  12. ^ Van Alyea, Ginny (25 June 2020). "Say it Loud: You Are Beautiful". Chicago Gallery News. Retrieved 28 March 2023.
  13. ^ "You Are Beautiful, 2014". Buffalo AKG Art Museum. 2014. Retrieved 3 March 2023.
  14. ^ Gossett, Stephen (20 June 2017). "Mystery sign sows cheer on Lake Shore Drive". Chicagoist. Retrieved 3 March 2023.
  15. ^ Neman, Daniel (24 May 2022). "If you're good enough, smart enough ... say it to the mirrors at St. Louis Galleria exhibit". St. Louis Post-Dispatch. Retrieved 27 February 2023.
  16. ^ Cruz, Martha (7 July 2022). "'Summertime Happiness' art installation makes debut at Fashion Show Mall". KSNV-TV. Retrieved 3 March 2023.
  17. ^ Rigou, Vasia (25 May 2015). "Spreading Positivity Beyond Borders: You Are Beautiful Braille Stickers". New City. Retrieved 12 February 2024.
  18. ^ Yassine, Leen (11 December 2020). "Artist behind 'you are beautiful' wants people to 'be yourself, and that's enough'". Chicago Sun-Times. Retrieved 2 March 2023.
  19. ^ Rockett, Darcel (5 October 2021). "When it comes to murals, Chicago's are some of the most-loved". Retrieved 2 March 2023.
  20. ^ Khvan, Olga (7 January 2016). "More Text-Based Public Art Comes to the Greenway". Boston Magazine. Retrieved 27 February 2023.
  21. ^ "Public Art Network Year In Review Database: May This Never End". Americans for the Arts. 2017. Retrieved 2 March 2023.
  22. ^ "'MAY THIS NEVER END' receives Americans for the Arts' Year in Review Award". Rose Fitzgerald Kennedy Greenway Conservancy. 12 July 2017. Retrieved 2 March 2023.
  23. ^ "Arts Commission adds to Toledo art installations". Toledo Blade. 21 November 2019. Retrieved 3 March 2023.
  24. ^ "Arts Commission adds 'You Are Beautiful' sculpture to International Park collection". NBC 24. 21 November 2019. Retrieved 3 March 2023.
  25. ^ Crichton, Ginger (May 2020). ""We're All In This Together" Signs Appear Around Chicago". Midwest Living. Retrieved 3 March 2023.

External links[edit]

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