Matthew Barney (born March 25, 1967) is an American contemporary artist and director who works in the fields of sculpture, film, photography and drawing, and whose works explore intertwining connections between geography, biology, geology and mythology, as well as themes of conflict and failure. His early pieces were sculptural installations combined with performance and video. Between 1994 and 2002, he created The Cremaster Cycle, a series of five films described by Jonathan Jones in The Guardian as "one of the most imaginative and brilliant achievements in the history of avant-garde cinema." He is also known for Drawing Restraint 9 (2005) and River of Fundament (2014), as well as his past relationship with Icelandic musician Björk.
Matthew Barney was born March 25, 1967, as the younger of two children in San Francisco, California, where he lived until he was 7. He lived in Boise, Idaho from 1973 to 1985, where his father got a job administering a catering service at Boise State University and where he attended elementary, middle, and high school. His parents divorced and his mother, an abstract painter, moved to New York City, where he would frequently visit. It was there where he was first introduced to the art scene.