THE WORK OF MATTHEW FOREMAN

New Orleans–based artist, designer, and fabricator whose work bridges fine art, found-object sculpture, and conceptual assemblage. Rooted in a hands-on studio practice, Foreman has spent over a decade immersed in the physical and philosophical processes of contemporary art-making.

For more than seven years, Foreman has worked as the studio assistant to artist and musician James Macdonell, serving as a technical collaborator for Macdonell’s studio practice. Through this role, he has engaged deeply with a lineage of experimental art tied to Macdonell’s, and intern to Robert Rauschenberg, whose influence continues to echo through an approach that merges materials, disciplines, and meaning into unified works.

Foreman has also maintained a collaborative relationship with artist Robert C. Tannen, contributing to large-scale works, exhibitions, and conceptual projects. Their collaborations extended into exhibitions alongside renowned artist and architect Frank Gehry, further situating Foreman within a network of interdisciplinary contemporary art and design.

His work often incorporates salvaged and discarded objects—mechanical parts, signage, and industrial remnants—recontextualized into sculptures that explore themes of morality, contradiction, and human behavior. Drawing from both personal experience and broader cultural symbolism, Foreman’s pieces operate as modern allegories, balancing raw materiality with intentional design.

With a foundation in graphic design and an evolving fine arts practice, Foreman reclaims the overlooked and the discarded, constructing works that operate as contemporary relics—part artifact, part warning. Through layered materials and symbolic tension, his practice explores the fragile boundary between destruction and creation, asking viewers to find meaning in what remains.