Matthew Hebert has been working under the studio name eleet warez since shortly after completing his undergraduate studies in the mid-90s. The name is borrowed from hacker culture and is suggestive of the technical sophistication, improvisational spirit, and freewheeling appropriation that is essential to his work. Matthew creates work that deals with technology and its effects on the domestic environment and our sense of space. His work takes recognizable forms and layers new forms of use and meaning onto them. Ultimately, the work generates new forms of interaction between the user, the object, and the environment.
Matthew Hebert’s work has been exhibited at venues including The Museum of Contemporary Art San Diego, The Berkeley Art Museum, The Milwaukee Art Museum, The Museum of Craft and Folk Art, San Francisco; The California Center for the Art, Escondido; The Chicago Cultural Center, and Core77 in New York. Additionally, Matthew is a member of the collaborative public art team, Unmanned Minerals, with Reno based poet Jared Stanley and Los Angeles based artist Gabie Strong.
Matthew received his Bachelor of Arts in Architecture from the University of California, Berkeley; and his Master of Fine Arts from California College of the Arts. He has taught at several schools including the University of Wisconsin – Madison, CalArts, and The School of the Art Institute of Chicago. He is currently Associate Professor of Art at San Diego State University.