Matthew Barney

Cremaster Cycle Net.Matthew Barney’s epic Cremaster cycle (1994–2002) is a self-enclosed aesthetic system consisting of five feature-length films that explore processes of creation. The cycle unfolds not just cinematically, but also through the photographs, drawings, sculptures, and installations the artist produces in conjunction with each episode. Its conceptual departure point is the male cremaster muscle, which controls testicular contractions in response to external stimuli…

Biography and works

Drawing Restraint

Over the past two decades, Matthew Barney has created a distinctive universe using a multitude of media, from sculpture and photography to drawing and film. Informed by his careful study of recent art history, the human body, and biological development, his work reveals a keen interest in process and the evolution of form…sfmoma

Fan site, with news, blog, forums and much more

Barney is journeying alone in his efforts to build a parallel mythological world that probes deeply the dilemmas and traumas that shape our time. Much has been made of the idea that Barney has built a self-contained, enclosed system and iconography. Cremaster, as a sculptural project, has its own codes, signs and forms, almost its own genetic imprint. Yet the building blocks of its ‘DNA’ are easier to recognise than to decode. It feeds on itself, sometimes almost devours itself. But, like every system, every organism, it needs nourishment from without. ..