MATT LOMBARD: INTERVIEW CHOLER: Ok tell us were you are from, and what started you into photography, and do you do any other kind of visual art? LOMBARD: The Gein and Dahmer state . . . of mind (Wisconsin) The need to vent disfigured forms and idea's . Their release into my art, brings about a sort of cleansing. CHOLER: Your Photography has a dark gothic bondage look to it. Is this the direction you are heading in your work, or are you going to branch out into other types of photography or art? LOMBARD: As of late, I've also became interested in carving animal bones. My first two pieces, a deer jaw and skull. CHOLER: Some of your work has an altered look to it, how do you achieve this look in your photos? LOMBARD:Several of my images are grafted together from differen't photographs. Sometimes imagery is cross-bred with male and female parts. The body torn, the flesh removed, the healing begins. CHOLER: Are you a "big fan" of computer manipulation in your work, and how far are you willing to take the computer alterations? LOMBARD: The image almost seems to create itself, I am merely a vessel for it's arrival. There are no limitations or boundaries to it's reach or distortion. CHOLER: What past and present visual Artists are you inspired by, and does this come out in your work? And is this something you do intentionally? LOMBARD: Joel Peter Witkin, Robert Gregory Griffeth, and Philip Fichot. Elements of their dissections breathe within my work subconciously. CHOLER: What major influences, out side the visual arts, gives you inspiration? Is this more of a push in your photography then say the visual artists? LOMBARD: Gutted out houses, Die Form, the demons that manifest in alcohol, Lycia, and the three David's (Bowie, Lynch, and Cronenberg), Yes! CHOLER: What sorts of assumptions have viewers made about your work? Have they been correct? Incorrect? Suprising? Do viewers ever infer messages or themes in your work that you find valid, but which you did not consciously imply? LOMBARD: . The less they know about you, the more they project their own thoughts into the image. Their desire, to scrape down and unskin me. Their hunger, to become the experience which is the state of the image. CHOLER: I have seen online magazines with you photographs is this something you have got through networking? Or blind submissions? LOMBARD: Blind submissions for the most part, though I have gottenrequests for work through referrels from other artists (mostly writers). CHOLER: What are the steps you are taking in getting your stuff out and known? LOMBARD:For now, the net seems the easiest way to impregnate otherswith my unclean, aborted thoughts. CHOLER: I know a few photographers just starting out who have had a hardtime getting models or the money for models what is your approach with recruiting models? LOMBARD:I've never paid any of my models. Some develop an interest after seeing what i do, other's cross my path by chance. CHOLER: What projects do you have lined up for the future? What sort of developments can we expect to discover in future pieces? LOMBARD:I've considered releasing an assortment of imagery on disk. As of now, my imagery exists only in digital form. The reflections of my psyche severed and implanted as pulsating organisms across your screen. The future of their inhabitation remains unknown, even to me.