Artist dialog on MATT BODETT's To Be Lost If It Must Be So! to be held Aug. 10, at THE GALLERY AT THE LINEN BUILDING

An artist dialog on Boise artist Matt Bodett's new exhibit To Be Lost If It Must Be So! will be held at 5:30 p.m. Tuesday, Aug. 10, at The Gallery at the Linen Building, 1402 W. Grove St. in Downtown Boise's Linen District. Admission is free. All ages, full bar (I.D. required).

To Be Lost If It Must Be So!, which runs through Aug. 23, combines new work with select pieces from Group Show: Yes, Maybe, No, a spring Gallery at the Linen Building exhibit that featured the work of Bodett along with three graduating Boise State students.

Diagnosed with Schizo-Affective Disorder, Matt Bodett briefly left college before enrolling at Boise State. Much of the artwork completed during his schooling explores the many changes and problems he has faced. Acting now as an advocate for persons with mental health issues, Bodett hopes to create artwork that will open the dialogue for serious consideration of the treatment of mentally ill patients. In the fall of 2009, Bodett began the Masters of Fine Arts program at Boise State and plans on graduating with his MFA in the spring of 2011.

To Be Lost If It Must Be So! centers around the idea of wrestling with oneself, Bodett says.

"My work deals specifically with mental illnesses, and this theme is a consistent hurdle I face," he says. "Within the artworks, there are visual metaphors which can relay a narrative, or give specific visual cues which will inform the reading of the work. I work within a framework of specific images, repeated and altered, in order to give emphasis to certain emotional events.

"I work with many mediums; however, most of them relate to printmaking. I find that a process which is intended to produce multiple images, when denied that ability, and only creating one unique image, gives a certain validity or importance to a now individual work. This idea resonates with my intended subject as well. Each of us lives within a society which places emphasis on a unique identity by being the same, or wearing the same clothing brand, or eating the same brand of cereal. Mental illnesses, which actually push the boundaries of identity, are cast out of mainstream discussions and trivialized by television and Hollywood."

At the dialogue Bodett will also introduce a project designed specifically for the night. The new work will interact with the discussion and may challenge the viewers' perceptions of sanity and appropriate self-dialogue. This work will only be on view for the evening of the dialogue.

Bodett has been involved in many community events throughout Boise. He has received public commissions from Boise State University, and from the City of Boise as part of the Linen District project. He will also be teaching a printmaking workshop at the Boise Art Museum in August.