Matthew Brandt (b. 1982, Los Angeles) received his BFA from Cooper Union in 2004 and MFA from the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) in 2008. Interested in physicality, process and landscape, Brandt’s ability to stretch the readings of an image, multiplying them both physically and conceptually, speaks directly to his interest in how images loom and meanings shift within a shared visual history. Taste Tests and Lakes and Reservoirs reflect the artist’s engagement with the great American landscape photographers, but with an ease, humor and youthful energy. Whether silkscreening his own photograph of Half Dome in Yosemite—an iconic image of the American West—with Cheez Whiz, Mint Jelly and other pedestrian condiments, or leaving photographs of lakes soaking in the water of their source, his subject matter visually and physically informs the work. It is all part of the Brandt's continual investigation into the charge that imbues meaning within an image. His work is the clever manifestation of a photographic alchemist, satisfying the urge for the tangible, and grounding us in the present. Brandt’s precocious talent has landed him in the permanent collections of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), the Armand Hammer Museum (Los Angeles) and the Elton John Collection. He currently lives and works in Los Angeles.