The Century Hit Puberty: Selected Essays 2010-2014

Mat Gleason is my favorite contrarian on the LA art scene: blunt but humane, the proverbial drill sergeant with a heart of gold. Mat knows a whole lot, and cares deeply about what’s going on around him, so that even when I disagree with him—roughly 30% of the time—I admire that he’s typically seasoned his point with some caustic humor, along with a barb or two at an ample cross-section of the art world’s sacred cows. His writing is the antithesis of the jargon-heavy academic theorizing that passes too often for art criticism, and having first read many of these short essays online, I am thoroughly gratified to reaffirm that not once over the past five years did I inadvertently get on his bad side!—Dan CameronOMG. I have never met anyone with whom I agreed so wholeheartedly and disagreed so emphatically. One minute he says things that make me feel like I’ve met my soul mate, and the next I want to pop him in the nose. Because inside Mat Gleason is both a mushy idealist and a cynic and…well, it’s good I don’t have to live with him. His characterization of Dennis Hopper suits Mat as well: “…a work of art, perpetually and insatiably seeking to possess multiple meanings and cash them in to indulge in every experience under the sun.”--Carol Diehl