He’s a painter and a gamer, and he recently took time to answer a few questions for us, let me introduce Matt Dangler. A few of you may remember him from the post about the “I am 8-Bit exhibit”, which can be read here.
So how long exactly have you been into gaming?
Ever since the original Nintendo came out… I remember playing Mario, Mega Man, Adventure Island, and what seems to be about a hundred others for hours! ha… So, my experiences with the original NES is what spawned my love for gaming. Ever since, I have been messing around with games here and there, Halo being a new recent favorite… so I have been gaming for about 18 years now.
It was the SNES for me. Do you have a favorite gaming memory?
There are definitely a few memories that stand out… I am sure a lot of us can relate staying up all night during a sleep over trying to beat Super Mario 3… or the first time we knocked out Mike Tyson in the 3rd round. Ironically though, my favorite gaming memory was just recently after the I AM 8 BIT reception… a few friends and I decided to play 8 BIT games all night… it really capped off an incredible event, and it was a blast experiencing that sense of nostalgia.
Sounds like you’re very much into the classics, do own or plan to own any “next-gen consoles?” If so, what do you think about them?
Well, I do just fine with my Playstation 2 and original NES for now… the way I see it, the price of the systems today and what they offer, I might as well wait another 5 or 10 years until they come out with virtual reality… now that would be something worth waiting for. Besides my friends have the new consoles hooked up to ridiculous surround sound systems etc… they are a lot more hardcore about it then I am, and I might as well play it right… over at their places.
Good friends are always nice, but when you get friends with good gaming setups, that makes it all the better. Now we saw some of your artwork on the “I am 8-Bit” exhibit. How long have you been painting?
Technically… I have only been painting for about 3 years now… but I have been drawing ever since I could breathe haha.
Yeah, I tried drawing once. My teacher told me it was really good horse, unfortunately I was trying to make an eagle. Do you have a favorite work you have made over the years?
I do have a favorite work… I painted it during a peak time in my life… and it was painted during a time that I really felt the depths of love.
A beautiful piece of art.
Wow, that’s astonishing. What’s life like as a painter?
So far I have been extremely fortunate, life as a painter has been very fulfilling. I am still very new to the game though, being that I graduated in May 2006. Hopefully it will continue to be as exciting and keep serving as a vehicle into all of the different areas of life.
Good luck in the future, do you have any hobbies you can share with us?
I have a deep passion for fishing… I grew up on the Jersey Shore and would spend most of my time fishing out on my friends boats, I actually worked on fishing boats most Summers. Besides women… nothing is better then a 30 pound Striped Bass pulling drag! Anyone that has experienced that knows what I am talking about… it turns into an addiction.
Yep, the man who invented work didn’t know how to fish. If you could have any superpower what would it be?
Hmmmmm… well… I suppose I would be safe saying x-ray vision, or the ability to fly… or I could try to come up with something funny, like the ability to attract women for once haha… but honestly if I had a superpower it would be the ability to show people the path to God.
Very interesting choice, what type of music do you enjoy?
I enjoy a pretty wide range of music… and when you are painting every day almost all day, let me tell you- you definitely go through quite a lot of music. So, I would say the music I enjoy the most would be the tunes of 311… Linkin Park… less mainstream groups that I would recommend to anyone seeking fuel to explore their sub-conscious would be groups like Front Line Assembly… and I deeply enjoy the meditative quality of Tibetan throat singers, Phil Thornton puts together an incredible mix of Tibetan Monks Chanting with other harmonious blends.
Tibetan throat singers to Linkin Park, sounds pretty eclectic to me. What’s the worst food you’ve ever eaten?
HAhaha… wow… well I have been blessed with my Mothers cooking most of my life so I haven’t experienced anything terrible at home… the first thing I think of were these barbeque beef patties in this like… fake sour sauce that I am sure everyone can remember from those wonderful days of Public School lunch, anyhow… one time in particular I was lucky enough to get food poisoning from these little bbq gems… I had to skip a school baseball game that I was playing in and everything… because trust me you can’t play like that… : )
School “food” never sat well with me either. What would you like to be doing in ten years?
Realistically, I hope to be in the groove of a solid career in art… I feel like everything will fall into place if my artwork keeps growing etc. On a more… idealistic approach to the question, I would like to be the king of an island off Madagascar… we will keep it real out there… loin cloths… blow darts… and those giant feasts that you only see in cartoons like Peter Pan, you know, the ones that have 90 pound Turkeys on the table- yeah, that’s what I am talking about!
Who wouldn’t want to live like that. Well, thank you very much for taking the time to talk to us. If anyone is interested in seeing more of Matt’s work, it can be found here.
