Matthew Sandager, photographer, filmmaker and illustrator (among other things) makes his solo debut with a special exhibition titled ‘Scotland’. Sandager presents both photography and video made while participating as an Artist in Residence at the Glenfiddich Distillery. The works included reflect the artist’s interests in personal histories as they relate to the universe. As Sandager explains,” we are wholly one unit moving about in our own independent moments.” ‘Scotland’ will open on Thursday, April 7th with a reception starting at 6pm and will be on view through April 17th, 2011 at Stephan Stoyanov Gallery, located at 29 Orchard Street, NYC.

To share his unique experience, Sandager began utilizing his photographs of people, objects and landscapes as building blocks intended to describe his time in Scotland. Images of sculptural copper stills and seraphic creatures coexist with the artist’s sublime still lifes. Objects of unlikely adoration, such as the detail of an abandoned mattress in ‘Stand Fast,’ are treated with genuine admiration by Sandager. Furthering the theme of individual experience, the artist created a series of time-lapse videos, titled ‘Distill,’ showing various 24 hour period views of the landscape and distillery. Sandager describes the videos as, “the distillation of time, showing the smallness of each individual action and life. Literally drops in the bucket.” The videos juxtapose industrial images, of workers moving barrels or packaging bottles, against the grandeur of stillness, as in the ethereal “Distill: Balvenie Castle” which shows the massive structure, where Mary Queen of Scots once stayed, magically disappear into the sky.

Based in NYC for the past 14 years, Matthew Sandager was born and raised in Minnesota. He received a BA in Studio Arts from the University of Minnesota and a MFA in Photography from the School of Visual Arts in NYC. His work has been exhibited in New York and around the country including Seattle, Minneapolis, Savannah and Provincetown. He is currently at work on several bodies of work from his time in Scotland, including two book projects. His editorial work has appeared in numerous publications including Details Magazine, Menswear, Womens Wear Daily, The Contributing Editor, New York Times ‘T’ Style Magazine and L’Uomo Vogue.