Matthew Barney was born in San Francisco in 1967 and raised in Boise, Idaho. He received his BA from Yale University in 1989, and then moved to New York City, where he lives and works today. From his earliest work, Barney has explored the transcendence of physical limitations in a multimedia art practice that incorporates feature-length films, video installations, sculpture, photography, and drawing. In 1994, Barney began work on his epic CREMASTER Cycle, a five-part film accompanied by related sculptures, photographs, and drawings, which he completed in 2002. Barney has exhibited worldwide and has received numerous awards, including the Aperto prize at the 1993 Venice Biennale; the Hugo Boss Award in 1996; the 2007 Kaiser Ring Award in Goslar, Germany; and the San Francisco International Film Festival’s Persistence of Vision Award in 2011.