The idea of socially engaging art doubling as a public works project flourished in the 1970s, a time of nihilism and malaise caused by inflation, environmental destruction and loss of confidence in political leadership. Mattingley’s artistic ancestry includes Agnes He Denes, who in 1982 addressed the questionable priorities of food access, environmental destruction and the free market in “Wheatfield — a Confrontation.” It was formed by the construction of the World Trade Center. Mattingly’s practice of engaging entire communities in social projects began in 1993 with the purchase of his 22 derelict homes in Houston’s historic Black Third His Ward, and a focus on art, housing and community development. There is a precedent for ‘Project Row House’ by Rick Rowe and his collaborators who turned it into a center. But her closest counterpart may be Mierle Laderman Ukeles, who made art from and within the seemingly faceless and opaque municipal system. In 1977, Ukeles became the first artist-in-residence with the New York City Department of Sanitation. In 1979, she embarked on her year-long performance piece called “Touch Sanitation” and shook hands with all of her 8,500 employees in the department.
At 44, Mattingly brings a wry sense of humor to this breed. “In a bureaucratic social system, people feel this every day,” she said. “There are layers upon layers of absurdity in spending a day in a lawsuit, and that is part of the inspiration for my new work. I feel it and I try to react to it.”
While one might imagine the artist behind a project requiring such massive controversy to be an instigator, Mattingly is low key. We spoke on the rickety front porch of an empty house on Governors Island in May. A former military facility in New York Harbor, it now serves as a public park, an artist residence, and supports a variety of non-profit organizations, where Mattingly and her team hold workshops and exhibitions. A space called Swale Lab. Her savings have been an asset in reaching out to audiences who may not be receptive to green contemporary art, as well as pitching quirky projects to administrators who have every reason to say no. . “She’s not ashamed of people’s customs,” said Sarah Raisman, chief her curator at the National Academy of Design in New York. “There is a generosity in Mary’s work that makes the viewer feel the possibility.” In her risk-averse, avoiding unexpected twists and turns, she lived in perilous times. capturing the experience. Ultimately, her art is about resilience and about finding ways to survive.
Even as a child, Mattingly dreamed of rising water. The artist, who grew up in a flooded area, grew up rescuing the basement of his family’s home in Summers, Connecticut, his rural town three hours north of New York. Surrounded by farmlands, her family was forced to buy bottled water after discovering that tap water was contaminated with pesticides used in the local tobacco fields. Mattingly also absorbed her lessons about her relationship with urban areas and their surroundings, beneficiaries of the harvest from her region like herself. “We have seen waste from cities return to nearby towns. The fact that if cities were a little more self-sufficient, they would cause less environmental damage elsewhere,” he said. she said.