Taras W. Matla is the Director of the University of Maryland Art Gallery, where he oversees daily operations and manages a permanent collection of approximately 5,000 works of art. With over 25 years of museum experience, Matla has overseen the growth of the Art Gallery’s collection, doubling its size while enhancing its focus on artist diversity and cultural representation. He has curated and coordinated numerous significant exhibitions, including Lisa Marie Thalhammer: Chromatic Dialogue (2024), African Art from the Dr. Gilbert and Jean Jackson Collection (2023), Daniela Libertad: Yo regreso a las acciones sencillas (2022), Christopher Bartel: The Skinwalker Ranch Portfolio (2021), Observations: Selected Works by Jamilah Sabur (2020), Pause, Play: Selected Works by Jonathan Monaghan (2020), Lia Halloran: The Same Sky Overarches Us All (2019), and Wynn Bullock: Revelations (2016). 

 

In addition to his curatorial work, Matla founded both the Visiting Artist Lecture & Project (VALP) program and the Video in The Atrium (ViTA) program. VALP, established in 2015, brings emerging and mid-career artists from diverse backgrounds to UMD, fostering collaboration with the Art Gallery, students, faculty, and the surrounding community. ViTA, launched in fall 2022, activates an underutilized section of the Parren J. Mitchell Art-Sociology Building's atrium with video art, extending the gallery's reach beyond traditional spaces.

 

Matla is also a Research Affiliate with Harvard University's Galileo Project. Prior to joining the University of Maryland, he worked in the Department of Prints and Drawings at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and in Communications and Corporate Relations at The J. Paul Getty Trust. A native of Los Angeles, California, Matla holds a BFA in Printmaking from California State University, Long Beach, and an MA in Aesthetics and Politics from the California Institute of the Arts.