About the Artist

 

Matt Gallo, the artist behind New Yuk City, creates a world where grotesque urban wildlife reigns supreme, and the boundaries between human and pest dissolve. Using fine art, waste, and patternmaking, he dissects the hierarchies we impose on other life forms—recasting lost pets, invasive insects, and microscopic cultures as protagonists. His work twists the lust and lore of Earth's greatest (and grossest) city into a surreal meditation on the wildness we suppress in our lives.

Every New Yuk City collection begins as handcrafted art in Gallo’s Brooklyn studio. Most pieces are made-to-order and help slash production waste. The artwork is sold raw or reborn as prints on clothing, accessories, and home decor. 

After a decade designing for NYC’s ad and entertainment worlds—with clients like Nickelodeon, 21st Century Fox, Microsoft, and Lego—Gallo unearthed New Yuk City in 2021 through personal exploration. Now, his feline, feathered, and exoskeletal avatars mirror human behavior, blending humor and horror to ask one question: How long until the wild within us stops asking permission, and it swallows the city we build on top of ourselves?