The day we talked to Matt Savitsky, he was moving out of his North Philadelphia studio, in preparation for a road trip across the country with his father. Savitsky, moved to Philadelphia from what he called “the New York pressure cooker.” Here he found a whole different way of life–first isolation and unemployment, and then friendship in a multi-generational community of gay men. Savitsky says he’s shy, but his art, often with openly gay content, includes not-so-shy performance; he quickly found an audience at places like Vox Populi, the Painted Bride and Bodega in the short time he spent here. Matt grew up around Lancaster, PA, in a very different environment–a conservative Christian farm life, but ultimately his family encouraged his interest in art. Now he is moving on again, this time to graduate school at the University of California San Diego.
This episode is edited by Peter Crimmins. The music is by Eric Biondo. The slide show is edited by artblog Intern Alison McMenamin. Thanks to the Knight Foundation for helping us get the ball rolling on this project. Thanks to J-Lab‘s Enterprise Reporting Fund and William Penn Foundation for additional support and to our partner WHYY NewsWorks for their support. You can subscribe to artblog radio on iTunes.
