Matt Lodder


Matthew C. Lodder is a British senior lecturer in art history and theory, director of American studies and a tattoo expert at the University of Essex. He is also a exhibition curator and one of the University of Essex's Public Voice Scholars. Lodder completed his PhD in 2010, having submitted a thesis entitled Body Art: Body Modification as Artistic Practice. Lodder is a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society.

Selected works

Books

  • Alexa MacDermot, Kathrina Rupit, Matt Lodder: Goblin Market: Irish New Contemporary Art. White Lady Art Books 2012,
  • Al Overdrive, Matt Lodder : No Commercial Value: The Photography of Al Overdrive. AO 2008,
  • Matt Lodder : Painted People: Humanity in 21 Tattoos. HarperCollins Publishers 2022,
  • Matt Lodder : Painted People: 5,000 Years of Tattooed History from Sailors and Socialites to Mummies and Kings. HarperCollins Publishers 2023, ISBN
  • Matt Lodder : Tattoos: The Untold History of a Modern Art.Yale University Press 2024,
  • Matt Lodder : Manfred Kohrs: Vorlagenalbum des Tätowierers Horst "Tattoo-Samy" Streckenbach. IKARUS, Wedemark 2024,

    Journal articles

  • Lodder, M.,. Visual pleasure and gonzo pornography: Mason’s challenge to convention in ‘the hardest of hardcore’. Porn Studies. 3, 373-385
  • Dymock, A. and Lodder, M.,. 'The Erotics of Injury: Remembering Operation Spanner Workshops', 10&11 September 2015, University of Essex and Royal Holloway, University of London. Porn Studies. 3, 320-323
  • Lodder, M.,. ‘Things of the sea’: iconographic continuities between tattooing and handicrafts in Georgian-era maritime culture. Sculpture Journal. 24, 195-210
  • Lodder, M.,. Art History in the Pub. Journal of Visual Culture. 12, 332-338

    Exhibitions

  • British Tattoo Art Revealed, described as a "visionary exhibition" by anthropologist and tattoo researcher Lars Krutak, began at the National [Maritime Museum Cornwall] in March 2017 and toured nationwide through 2020.
  • Skin Digging, Art Exchange/University of Essex