Matt Rodriguez:

My first experience with art when I was little, was my grandfather, he's a Cherokee Indian
He used to braid trees in his yard and shape em and bend em. It's just an old Indian art.
He taught me how to do that when I was little, I'm just now getting kind of back into trying to play with that concept.

My name is Matthew Bryor Rodriguez and I pretty much practice all the arts.

Well I originally, I was playing with paint, pushing it around with brushes,  I just felt so bored with it, like oh this is boring, cause you can't do too much, you can paint realistic that's what they teach you to do. I learned how to do it, but I just was so bored with it, so I've started collaging like bark and feathers black cat fireworks and xylophones, just whatever you can; glue it all together and give it a face, give it some sort of personality, give it a problem it has to deal with.

I guess I'm trying to point out to everyone that the trees, and the bushes, all the green stuff, they're all alive, and I think like they're the original Native Americans and they don't get much respect. So I put eyes, nose and mouth on them, you have to give them the traditional face for people to realize â it is alive, oh yeah it is alive if you give it a traditional face.

This is the wall of ideas right here, it keeps piling up. When you need something new to work on, you just look over there. Oh let's see.

Kitty! Oh he doesn't like you guys. Oh! Alright I'll put the kitty away, he doesn't like you guys, you guys are going to have to leave.

So a lot of things in my childhood influence my work. This is one thing from my childhood it's become part of my work.
Hair rollers! And shower cap! And that's that!