On a breezy, early spring day, Matt Goad strides into Elemental Coffee looking slightly rumpled, as artists often do, wearing a trucker cap with a vintage short-sleeved plaid shirt encasing a newly-trim physique, his reward for having gone alcohol free some months ago and working with a trainer at the gym. Goad is a ball of nervous energy, with a laconic speaking style that sometimes masks and sometimes amplifies his intensity.

Just shy of 50 years old, Goad is clearly hitting his stride. He’s a painter, a musician, and a graphic designer, and he’s just been commissioned to articulate and oversee the public art and design components of the multi-million dollar expansion of Oklahoma City’s Will Rogers World Airport. He is thrilled by this, but also earnestly humble, wide-eyed wonder style, and intermittently stunned by his good fortune.

“When I learned I got it, I couldn’t believe it. I felt numb, and I felt disbelief and mirth. When I applied for the project, I thought there’s no way I’m going to get it so I approached it as I was going to give them everything I’ve got. I thought this project has the responsibility to tell the story of Oklahoma City, its history and future, and also welcome people,” Goad says, leaning forward, arms excitedly in motion.

It’s heady stuff for this son of a traveling preacher man. “When I was growing up, we moved every year between 1970 and 1980. Indiana, Ohio, Michigan, Kentucky, Illinois…it taught me a lot, though.  I didn’t have many friends because we moved so much, and as a preacher’s kid, I was often met with hostility, which led to a lot of fights. Even though I was raised with the church thing, my parents always encouraged my art. I could withdraw into art no matter where we were or what was happening, and man, I’m so grateful I could. It was my oasis.”

Goad, who now has paintings on every continent except Antarctica, remembers a pivotal moment in his childhood: the day his family got a set of World Book Encyclopedias. It was like the sun came out. “I was able to read about art, man. Picasso, Lichtenstein, Chagall. I’ve wanted to paint as long as I can remember. I’ve always known I would grow up to do art,” Goad says. He’s a vibrant character,

After spending his high school years in Arizona, his move to Oklahoma for college made perfect sense for a young man who’d traveled more than he’d stayed in one place. “My mom liked it because of its link to our church and I was excited about their art and design program. She helped me fill out the admission forms. When I got there, one of our church elders’ son was there and knew where to get weed.  My style really developed there. I take more of a graphic approach, and it all goes back to learning to do woodcuts.”

For Goad, after a childhood spent rambling around the country, Oklahoma turned out to be the stop that stuck. “My mom remarried and moved to Houston, and I got my first graphic design job in Oklahoma City. I kind of got stranded. I worked for agencies for two decades, but I was always making art and music. 

An avid reader and a keen observer of people and things, Goad says his art is influenced by everything he takes in. “I love reading about psychology and history. I’m always reading history,” he says. Currently in progress are the classic “A Tour of the Prairies,” by Washington Irving; the recent mashup of Oklahoma history and the story of the OKC Thunder, “Boom Town,” by Sam Anderson; and “How to Change Your Mind,” by Michael Pollan, which is an argument in favor of psychedelic-drug aided therapy. “I love history,” Goad says. “And I realized I can put it into art.”

Goad’s fine art career had always existed in tandem with his commercial art and graphic design career, and for many years, it was the kid brother. In recent years, though, to Goad’s delight, his fine art commissions and large-scale projects are growing quickly and are now crowding out his design and branding work. “I’ve begun phasing out my design work, but still do work on some branding projects.”

You’ll recognize his work – it’s all around you. Beer can designs and branding for Elk Valley Brewing Company, mural work for Fowler VW, logos for the city of Edmond, Oklahoma City’s Film Row district, Midtown Vets, the Keep Our Land Grand anti-littering campaign and Midtown Dog Park.  

But the airport project is huge, and its importance isn’t lost on the artist. “This is a project that very well may outlive me. I knew it needed to show Oklahoma City as a modern metropolis as well as its history, and it needed to feel contemporary but also timeless,” he says.

“I was on the phone with my mom when I got the call about the airport project. She screamed and we cried and she was as proud as any mother on earth! It’s the greatest feeling. You always want to make your parents proud.”

photos: Ryan Magnani