Kate Russell
If you stare at the walls that adorn the new Neon Kingdom section of Meow Wolf’s newest exhibit “The Real Unreal” long enough you are bound to see things. There are a series of windows strategically placed where one can make out a series of structural faces looking back at them. But after doing some research and several interviews, this isn’t the only ode to humanity that rests dormant in such a vibrant space/stage area. All over the walls, overlooking the stage, lit up in glorious neon, is an ode one of the founding members of Meow Wolf, the late Matt King. It’s one of those, if you blink you might miss it scenarios. Because there is so much to look at in any of these spaces, if senior art director, Benji Geary hadn’t pointed it out during a recent walk through of the new art space, many attendees would’ve missed it entirely.
Stephen Montoya
Above the archway in this new space/stage area resting between a few window faces, is a piece of King’s work, which is now on permanent but subtle display. A hushed reverence can be felt whenever his name is brought up by his friends and fellow collaborators. In fact, some of his former colleagues say Meow Wolf wouldn’t be what it is today if not for his vision. The sad truth is, King never had a chance to see the finished Grapevine installment although his artistic influence can be seen everywhere inside of it. King passed away last July at age 37, in Santa Fe, New Mexico which is home to the very first Meow Wolf art installment titled “House of Eternal Return.”
Before he ever picked up a paint brush or refurbished a piece of trash into a work of art, King spent his youth in Arlington. After high school, King attended junior college before nixing it for a life of expressive freedom. He eked out a living as an art handler, landscaper and food delivery person before he would eventually head the call of the northern New Mexican landscape in Santa Fe. It was at this stage in his life that King would become a part of the collaborative team of artists that launched Meow Wolf in 2008. Since then, King developed 34 Meow Wolf art projects, many as the lead artist.
“This area is sort of outfitted to be an homage to him,” says senior Meow Wolf artist Sofia Howard while explaining the concept behind the Neon Kingdom during a recent tour of the new installment. “We even used the flowers from his memorial … just a bunch of personal stuff.”
Howard, who was the field art director for the Neon Kingdom and one King’s friends, says she was able to incorporate a lot of different items that would honor his memory. One such piece she was able to bring in was a shark jaw covered in a fine glitter and adorned with painted teeth. “We want to place it here, so we would have a nice place to display it,” she says. “He actually has his hand on this exhibit in many areas.”
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The other areas, Howard is referring to were created by over 40 Texas artists and 150 Meow Wolf artists and fabricators from other states over the course of nearly two years. The breakdown of this new concept of art areas are separated in sections titled, BRRRMUDA, Mystical Forest, Lamp Shop Alley, Optic Drift, and of course the Neon Kingdom. The Neon Kingdom space was created to pay tribute to the original stage area in the “House Of eternal Return” in Santa Fe. King created the latter titled Fancy Town. This section of Meow Wolf’s first installment doubles as an event venue and has the appearance of an Old West ghost town made of recycled scrap wood and construction waste. Outside of the Grapevine universe there are also several other Meow Wolf concepts around the country that boast different interconnected themes, all of which King had a hand in.
kate russell
The company's first exhibition, titled “House Of Eternal Return” was opened in Santa Fe circa 2016. In 2021 the next Meow Wolf installment titled “Omega Mart”, was opened at AREA15 in Las Vegas, Nevada. That same year, Denver’s “Convergence Station” was opened. Each one of these all has something in common; King helped curate and create many of the art installations himself.
“Besides being an ode to our friend, we wanted to make the Neon Kingdom a living place that felt inhabited even if you were standing in this space all alone,” Howard says.
But this space is just the start, Howard explained. There are several homages to King set up at spaces at all of the aforementioned Meow Wolf installments around the country. “There are now several plaques and some more discrete altars in honor of him at all of our locations,” she says. “We are working on one for our own production facility that’s not public facing. It’s a place where we make art and where we worked with him a lot. That’s just for us.”
According to Howard, she along with several artists and collaborators built an archway to honor King, since there was an amazing double rainbow that appeared on the day of his passing.
“When we saw that it felt like he had shown up to let us know that he was still around in some way,” she says. “So, we painted and built this thing and then we set it on fire.”
Howard explained that there are several sugar bowls inside of the Neon Kingdom that have the ashes of this archway in them. Another item that Howard helped place in this area is a Coors Banquet picture filled with seashells that King and his brother picked up on the beach when they were children.
“The irony of this exhibit is that King used to come to the Grapevine Mills Mall to buy CDs with his friends when they were teenagers,” Howard says. “It’s neat to think we were able to create something in a space that he frequented earlier in his life.”
