Matthew Barney
An American artist who melds sculpture, film, and biology into epic, mythic cycles exploring the body's transformation and constraints.
Born 1967 (age 59)·American contemporary artist and director·Birthday: March 25·Generation X
Biography
Matthew Barney creates worlds. A former college football player turned artist, he first gained notice in New York with sculptural performances that used Vaseline and athletic gear to explore physical struggle and biological processes. This set the stage for his monumental 'Cremaster Cycle,' a series of five visually dense, non-narrative films created over eight years. These works, featuring figures like Harry Houdini and Gary Gilmore, built a self-contained mythology using symbols of anatomy, landscape, and sport. Barney's practice is relentlessly interdisciplinary, producing not just films but the sculptures, photographs, and drawings that exist within them. His later 'River of Fundament' project extended this method to American history and literature, cementing his status as a creator of total, challenging aesthetic universes.
Generation X
1965–1980
The latchkey kids. Raised during divorce, recession, and the end of the Cold War. Skeptical, self-reliant, media-literate. They invented indie culture, grunge, and the early internet — then watched the Boomers take credit.
Matthew was born in 1967, placing them squarely in the Generation X. The events that shaped this generation — economic uncertainty, the end of the Cold War, and the rise of personal computing — shaped the world they entered and the choices available to them.
#1 When Matthew Was Born
The biggest hits of 1967
#1 Movie
The Jungle Book
Best Picture
In the Heat of the Night
#1 TV Show
The Andy Griffith Show
Matthew's Life & Times
The world at every milestone
1967Born
Summer of Love in San Francisco; first Super Bowl
Gas: $0.33/galHome: $14,250Min wage: $1.40/hrPresident: Lyndon B. Johnson"To Sir, with Love" — LuluBest Picture: In the Heat of the Night
1972Started school
Watergate break-in; last Apollo Moon mission
Gas: $0.36/galHome: $19,550Min wage: $1.60/hrPresident: Richard Nixon"The First Time Ever I Saw Your Face" — Roberta FlackBest Picture: The Godfather
1980Became a teenager
John Lennon shot and killed in New York
Gas: $1.19/galHome: $47,200Min wage: $3.10/hrPresident: Jimmy Carter"Call Me" — BlondieBest Picture: Ordinary People
1983Could drive
Internet adopts TCP/IP, creating the modern internet
Gas: $1.16/galHome: $57,700Min wage: $3.35/hrPresident: Ronald Reagan"Every Breath You Take" — The PoliceBest Picture: Terms of Endearment
1985Could vote
Live Aid concerts raise money for Ethiopian famine
Gas: $1.12/galHome: $62,900Min wage: $3.35/hrPresident: Ronald Reagan"Careless Whisper" — Wham!Best Picture: Out of Africa
1988Turned 21
Pan Am Flight 103 bombed over Lockerbie
Gas: $0.90/galHome: $74,800Min wage: $3.35/hrPresident: Ronald Reagan"Faith" — George MichaelBest Picture: Rain Man
1997Turned 30
Princess Diana dies in Paris car crash; Harry Potter published
Gas: $1.23/galHome: $104,100Min wage: $5.15/hrPresident: Bill Clinton"Candle in the Wind 1997" — Elton JohnBest Picture: Titanic
2007Turned 40
iPhone released; Great Recession begins
Gas: $2.80/galHome: $172,600Min wage: $5.85/hrPresident: George W. Bush"Irreplaceable" — BeyonceBest Picture: No Country for Old Men
2017Turned 50
#MeToo movement; solar eclipse crosses the US
Gas: $2.42/galHome: $195,000Min wage: $7.25/hrPresident: Donald Trump"Shape of You" — Ed SheeranBest Picture: The Shape of Water
2026Age 59 today
Gas: $3.91/galPresident: Donald Trump
Key Achievements
- Created 'The Cremaster Cycle' (1994-2002), a five-film series celebrated as a landmark of contemporary visual art and cinema.
- Received the Hugo Boss Prize in 1996, a major award recognizing achievement in contemporary art.
- His early 'Drawing Restraint' series, which explores creative energy through physical impediment, has been exhibited globally.
- Had a major retrospective at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York in 2003.
Did You Know?
He was a standout football player at Yale University before focusing on art.
He is a longtime collaborator and former partner of the Icelandic musician Björk.
Petroleum jelly (Vaseline) is a recurring material in his early sculptures and performances.
“I'm interested in the relationship between resistance and creativity.”
