Decline (2003)

Matt Marello is also inventive in his use of technology. His carefully edited lip-synching in Decline (2003) created an unsettling protrait of artistic ambition. In the pixillated, stop-motion video Marello mouths upbeat statements of anonymous, struggling artists or perhaps actors who seem to have no recourse for failure. Marello's video is humorous at first, though through repetition it increasingly becomes less of a mantra than a warning. The downbeat assessments people offer about the possibility of failure offset the sunny optimism they initially display. Marello's short video gains currency with each loop because it starts to hint at the masses waiting for the "big break," It's successful because it is able to accomplish this without bitter cynicism.

William Powhide, The Brooklyn Rail, November, 2003.

Matt Marello, Decline, video, 01:11.