A portion of this article was adapted from an article about Matt Plett in the Spring 2018 issue of Pique Magazine.
If you ask Fort Wayne artist Matt Plett to describe his style, his answer is elusive.
From his mural on the side of Wunderkammer Company, to his minimalist prints of popular sports figures, to his hodgepodge collection of hand-lettering pieces and paintings on thrift shop finds, it all means something to him. But he can’t quite tell you what.
And yet, the reason is there, and it compels him to collect. And to create. And to keep collecting and creating, more often than not these days, now that he is a full-time artist and his kids are in school.
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Matt Plett at his art show, “It's OK. It's OK? It's OK!” at the Garden January 13-27, 2022.
In many ways, Plett got his start as a fine artist in the winter of 2013-2014, when he made 200 collages of things that inspired him. He was a graphic designer at the time, working for a little design firm in Fort Wayne’s Triangle Park. When he was off the clock, he would clip inspiration out of magazines and books—anything that meant something to him—pasting it together to create something new.
He laughs about it now, spending days, even weeks, agonizing over the right words for his projects. These days, Plett has largely traded collaging for hand-lettering, but the process is no less painstaking. So many people do hand-lettering, he says. There are so many words on so many posters, t-shirts, signs, and coffee mugs that he didn’t even consider doing his artwork full-time at first.
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Opening night of Matt Plett's art show, “It's OK. It's OK? It's OK!” held at the Garden January 13-27, 2022.
After all, it’s hard to do words well, without sounding trite or cheesy. Words can be so limiting—so finite in their meaning and clearly defined.
“Life isn’t like that,” Plett says.
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Opening night of Matt Plett's art show, “It's OK. It's OK? It's OK!” held at the Garden January 13-27, 2022.
So he agonizes over the right words for his projects, often landing on throwaway phrases, things people say in casual conversation without even thinking about it. They’re phrases we read on greeting cards. Words scrawled into notes that are forgotten or tucked away from the chaos of daily life.
Plett makes it a point to pull these common words out, dust them off, and display them in the biggest, brightest, boldest ways possible in his art.
“Good enough.” “Give it time.” “It’s OK.” “You are loved.” “Don’t Give Up.”
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Matt Plett's art show, “It's OK. It's OK? It's OK!” at the Garden January 13-27, 2022.
In a way, it’s what he has always done.
“Taking stuff that nobody wants and giving it a new life,” he says.
He uses words as a way to interrupt himself and others going about their daily routines. To him, they are also reminders to believe better things.
“It’s easy for me to encourage other people, but it’s really hard for me to hear the same things and believe it,” Plett says. “That’s where the everyday phrases come from.”
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Matt Plett's art show, “It's OK. It's OK? It's OK!” at the Garden January 13-27, 2022.
While some of his work is sobering and deep, it also has hints of sarcasm and irony. This subtle sense of enjoyment—of being human and being OK with it—is what he hopes to convey in each piece he creates.
To date, the piece Plett is most proud of is one that he did early on in his career and one that wasn’t entirely his own. It’s a 40-page magazine he put together with his friends, featuring all of their work. He knows a handful of local artists, poets, and writers, so he took it upon himself to collect their pieces and illustrate some of their words in his own way. Then he printed it in a one-time, small-run magazine called “Honor Roll.”
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Opening night of Matt Plett's art show, “It's OK. It's OK? It's OK!” held at the Garden January 13-27, 2022.
If you ask him, the magazine left a lasting impression on his life and his work not necessarily for what it was, but for how it impacted people.
“It got my friends to do something they weren’t comfortable with,” he says.
That’s his hope—not just for his friends, but for everyone who encounters his art. He wants it to interrupt them, to throw them off guard long enough to realize the beauty of the moment and to remember what’s important.
“Adding a little beauty to something you think is monotonous is worthwhile in my opinion,” he says. “Anytime you go out of your monotonous, day-to-day routine, it wakes something up inside of you.”
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Matt Plett's art show, “It's OK. It's OK? It's OK!” at the Garden January 13-27, 2022.
It’s these small, unexpected interruptions that remind us we’re more than our schedules, more than our job titles and to do lists.
“It reminds us what it means to be human,” Plett says.
And being human, like being an artist, is complicated.
“I was always jealous of the designers who had one style, but I could never be happy with one style,” Plett admits.
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Matt Plett's art show, “It's OK. It's OK? It's OK!” at the Garden January 13-27, 2022.
Instead, his work is a fusion of styles and ideas, and maybe that’s OK. Maybe it’s not about connecting the dots or tying up the loose ends or creating things with clear meanings. Maybe it’s about finding meaning in the scattered pieces and being OK with that.
“I’m OK with the tension of not knowing,” Plett says.
And perhaps he says it best.
Fresh off his latest art show, “It's OK. It's OK? It's OK!” held at the Garden January 13-27, Plett tells Input Fort Wayne about his inspiration, his experience as a full-time artist in Northeast Indiana, and his plans for the future.
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Matt Plett, right, poses with guests on the opening night of his art show, “It's OK. It's OK? It's OK!” held at the Garden January 13-27.
IFW: Tell us about your recent art show “It's OK. It's OK? It's OK!” What inspired it?
MP: The show kind of came together from the past few years of personal work actually. I’d say I had well over half of the show made with no idea why (or if) I’d ever show anyone.
Pandemic life, personal growth, aging and failures, social anxiety, loneliness, and just the act of “trying to make meaning” all sort of guided me to the theme. It’s a show filled with pieces I tried to be honest with myself while making. I was really proud of what I’d made, but not showing it to anyone just felt, I don’t know, incomplete in a way. Not really in an ego-type way, like it sometimes feels, but more in a way where I was feeling like I’m blocking something by not sharing this.
It might sound pretentious, but I really wanted to share this work in hope that it would inspire someone else. I don’t know if it will succeed, but I’m really happy with the show in so many ways.
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Opening night of Matt Plett's art show, “It's OK. It's OK? It's OK!” held at the Garden January 13-27, 2022.
IFW: When did you first realize you wanted to be an artist?
MP: I watched Mark Kistler’s shows every day on PBS when I was young. That kind of sparked it in me. Then again in high school my art teacher was super encouraging for me.
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Matt Plett, left, poses with guests on the opening night of his art show, “It's OK. It's OK? It's OK!” held at the Garden January 13-27.
IFW: What’s it like being a full-time artist in Fort Wayne?
MP: It’s amazing and lonely and tough and beautiful and everything in between. You get the connection of a smaller city art scene vibe if you really want to find it. The opportunities are growing, but it’s honestly really tough to survive as a full-time artist here. The community’s value of creative work is growing, I believe. I depend on so many people just to survive: My partner, my clients, my friends, my collaborators. It feels so lonely, and sometimes scarcity-minded here, and at times, things come together. My biggest piece of advice is to connect with as many other artists as you can. It will help you keep your head up.
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Opening night of Matt Plett's art show, “It's OK. It's OK? It's OK!” held at the Garden January 13-27, 2022.
IFW: What’s your greatest hope for the future of Fort Wayne’s art scene?
MP: That opportunities will continue to grow in the city and that the people of the city connect deeply with the work.
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Matt Plett's art show, “It's OK. It's OK? It's OK!” at the Garden January 13-27, 2022.
IFW: What do you have planned for 2022?
MP: I would love to make some murals outside of Indiana, start work on a future show I’ve been pushing off for years now, and spend more time being present and paying attention. That goes for both art and life. Thank you!
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