Matthew Ballou is an artist and writer living in Columbia, Missouri with his wife and two daughters. He is an Assistant Teaching Professor of Painting and Drawing at The University of Missouri, where he has taught since 2007. Recently his artwork has been seen in solo exhibitions in the suburbs of Boston and Seattle, as well as in a two-person show with Tim Lowly in Louisville, KY. In summer 2012 his work was seen in a prestigious group show juried by famed author and critic Dore Aston at First Street Gallery in New York City. Currently his work may be seen in Both Sides of the Brain, a mezzotint exhibition traveling to numerous venues throughout the Midwestern United States. Ballou’s next important exhibition is In Three Moving Parts at the Evanston Art Center near Chicago (2013).
Writing has been an important aspect of Ballou’s output since 2001. Highlights of his publications include a cover feature on the work of Odd Nerdrum in Image Journal and an extensive review of Richard Diebenkorn’s Ocean Park Retrospective for the Chicago-based publication Neoteric Art. Ballou has been a contributor to Neoteric Art since 2009, and they released a collection of his essays, titled Nine Texts, in October 2011. A Finalist for The Ruminate Visual Art Prize in 2011, Ballou had several of his artworks and a short piece of writing published in Ruminate Magazine in 2012.
Ballou is a passionate educator and was honored to receive an Outstanding Graduate Faculty Award from the University of Missouri Graduate Student Association in 2012.
