Dave Matke is an outsider artist of proud lithuanian descent active in the Silver Lake community. His work has been shown in galleries throughout the East side, and graces the homes of several local musicians and artists. Sociologist of art Chelsea Starr, Ph.D. has called his work "simultaneously naive and sophisticated, bursting with mythological, historical, spiritual, and anthropological symbolic vocabulary." His innovative use of clay, wood, and acrylic in mixed media pieces shows versatility and the drive to create with whatever medium is available. Lovingly placing sacred objects in a trans-cultural folk mileu, his art shows undercurrents of androgyny, struggle, and contemplation. Matke's philosophy of art, in his own words, is "a wordless truth that is drawn, painted, or carved. It is ouija board and life raft, revealing to me where to fight, and where to refrain from fighting."
