drkrm. GALLERY / JOHN MATKOWSKY
Drkrm. Gallery owner JOHN MATKOWSKY grew up as a shy, quiet bookworm on the mean streets of South Philadelphia while attending Catholic School. Obsessed with books and horror films as a child, he became interested in photography and film. His supportive father purchased cameras and darkroom equipment enabling the young teenager to shoot movies and develop photos in the bathroom.
Both David Lynch’s Eraserhead and the photography or Diane Arbus’ were major inspirations in MATKOWSKY’s life. Though surrounded by some of the greatest art collections and institutions, he opted to see European double-features at a local movie house. Bergman, Cocteau, Kubric and Malick were among his favorites.
In 1982, after studying photography and film majoring in film at Temple University, MATKOWSKY moved to Los Angeles where he took a position as a black and white photo printer, something he enjoys and still does currently at his own Drkrm.
In 2005 when the lab MATKOWSKY worked at closed down, he mortgaged his home to start his own business, taking with him the clients from his previous job. His photo lab also became a photo gallery when he decided to show his client’s work in the lobby.
MATKOWSKY likes showing images you don’t see every day; the kind that makes the viewer uneasy, which is the angle he uses on his own photography. “I hate sunsets and kittens” says MATKOWSKY, “unless the kittens are dead”. His dream shows would include Vietnam War photos, Emilio Lari’s photographs of European pop icons of the ‘60s and Andy Warhol’s Polaroid’s. “I want to print and show great work, to be taken seriously as a photographic gallery and then be bought out by the Getty”
John Matkowsky filmography as DP
Strangers Online (2006)
Slaughter Studios (2002)
American Chai (2001)
...Lost (2000)
Hard (1998)
Back
