{"data":{"id":"3432","type":"artist","attributes":{"id":3432,"topgoose_id":2732,"tms_id":3432,"display_name":"Matthew Barney","sort_name":"Barney Matthew","display_date":"1967–","begin_date":"1967","end_date":"0","biography":"\u003cp\u003eSince the late 1980s Matthew Barney has employed a range of mediums, including film, video installation, drawing, and sculpture, to address themes such as the limitations of the body, androgyny, eroticism, and ritual. A former athlete, Barney has maintained an interest in bodily transformation that is conveyed through a sophisticated and idiosyncratic visual language. In the earliest works in his \u003cem\u003eDRAWING RESTRAINT\u003c/em\u003e series, begun in 1987, the artist illustrated the principle of hypertrophy (muscles growing stronger in response to resistance) by fashioning restraints, challenges, and experiments for himself in his studio— “facilities to defeat the facility of drawing,” as he put it. As the series progressed, the imagery became increasingly elaborate, from the film sets, narratives, and costuming to the physical feats performed.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eFor the video installation\u003cem\u003e\u0026nbsp;\u003c/em\u003e\u003ca href=\"/collection/works/8264\"\u003e\u003cem\u003eDRAWING\nRESTRAINT 7\u003c/em\u003e\u003c/a\u003e, Barney created three horned and cloven-footed satyrs—characters played by two actors and the artist himself wearing sculpted prostheses and professional makeup—whose actions and interactions build in fantastical and libidinal scenes that reference Greco-Roman mythology and the ancient sport of wrestling.\u003c/p\u003e\u003cp\u003eMost of the action takes place within the confines of a limousine bathed in otherworldly neon light, where the satyrs attempt to make images in the condensation on the vehicle’s sunroof. In other scenes the two mature satyrs battle to remove each other’s horns with strange instruments, while the kid, played by Barney, engages in an endless struggle to catch his own tail. \u003cem\u003eDRAWING RESTRAINT 7\u003c/em\u003e was included in the \u003ca href=\"/exhibitions/biennial-1993\"\u003e1993 Whitney Biennial\u003c/a\u003e and established new approaches to art making at the end of the twentieth century.\u003c/p\u003e","on_view":false,"artport":false,"biennial":true,"collection":true,"ulan_id":"500114761","wikidata_id":"Q451185","created_at":"2017-08-30T17:34:09.000-04:00","updated_at":"2026-03-30T07:05:39.317-04:00","links":{"artworks":"/api/artists/3432/artworks","exhibitions":"/api/artists/3432/exhibitions"}}}}