Matt Mastrud—more commonly known as Punchgut—is not just an artist, he’s a storyteller, a collaborator, and a creative force in Fargo’s art scene. Known for his darkly whimsical designs and his long-standing work with local brewery Drekker Brewing Company, Punchgut has spent decades crafting pieces. Whether it’s a gig poster, a beer label, or an experimental art piece, he approaches each project with the same sense of curiosity and excitement. We sat down with him to discuss his journey. creative process, and how he finds inspiration in the everyday chaos of life.

The Beginning of an Artist

Punchgut has always been an artist in some capacity, and more so has always bridged art with a mental outlet. His grade school days were filled with doodling as a way to escape anxiety.

“That was a way to keep my head down and not associate a whole lot because of anxiety and all those other things. It was like a weird little escape bubble to hide,” he said.

His journey into the professional art world began over 25 years ago, and since then, he’s explored just about every creative avenue imaginable— from t-shirt designs to gig posters to commercial work.

His professional career took off with the help of local collaborations, most notably with Drekker Brewing. A chance encounter with one of his gig posters caught the eye of Drekker’s co-founder, Mark Bjornstad.

“They saw one of the gig posters I did for Girl Talk, and that was the drippy death look they wanted to go for. Then, we started going from there,” Matt said. “I’ve almost been with them since day one, which is crazy, but that’s where we’ve gone from. It’s been like 10 years.”

This marked the beginning of a creative partnership that has expanded over a decade and produced more than 100 unique beer labels.

Balancing Business and Art

In a world where artists are often expected to wear many hats, Punchgut fully embraces the duality of being both a business owner and a creative.

“I do a lot of that [commercial] stuff too, and I like it. It’s like the yin and the yang. Sometimes it makes the spicier stuff, spicier. I do logos, I mean, when you’re an artist in Fargo, ND you gotta do everything to keep your head above water,” he said.

His days are split between commercial projects, like logos, and his passion projects, which he refers to as “the fun stuff.”

Winter is Punchgut’s prime time for experimentation. Isolated by the season, he uses this time to push boundaries with his art.

“Winter is perfect for depression and art creation. For artists, winter is perfect because it’s isolating, and you do have time to just disappear in your pieces and just start trying to wreck stuff and create new stuff. Winter’s perfect for that, so that’s what I binge on in the winter. I just start going in a whole bunch of routes and try to do as much as I can,” he said.

Punchgut stockpiles pieces during the season for many different avenues. Whether it’ll be in an art show, stand in his personal collection on his walls, or be sold an an event like Drekkerfest come the early fall. The point is to create, create, and create some more.

“I don’t know if anyone will buy it, but it’s an eye-catcher,” he said.

Punchgut’s Fargo Favorites

Fav Winter Activity:
Experimenting with new art projects

Fav Local Event:
Drekkerfest (of course)

Hidden Talent:
Longboarding down steep hills at 35 mph without crashing!

Creative Muse:
“Whatever crazy idea comes next.”

Check out a progression of Punchgut’s labelmaking process for one of Drekker’s beers!

Phase :
Phase Sketch

Phase 2:
Ink-Over

Phase 3:
Digital/Color

The Creative Process: "Always The Next One"

Punchgut’s process could be described as deeply intuitive, often driven by an unplanned, natural evolution. He doesn’t meticulously plan each step, instead letting the art grow as he works. It’s a bit chaotic, but even more, it just perfectly makes sense.

“For me, my favorite one is always the next one. I think it helps inspire me to keep grinding, because I’m so involved in it at that moment, and I’m like, ‘This could be the best one,'” he said. “It’s a weird little motivation. I don’t know if I ever thought of it as motivation, I just started working at it. I like having something on the board for next.”

Creative Recharge

When he’s not creating, you’ll find Matt speeding down hills of Fargo on his longboard. More than a hobby—it’s a form of mental release.

Whether he’s working on a Drekker label or an experimental piece, the rush of seeing an idea come to life is what drives him forward. But that doesn’t mean everything comes easily. When he’s stuck on a project, he turns to longboarding as a way to clear his head.

“I constantly deal with intimidation and anxiety, I think we all do,” Matt said. “Even with the art when I put on pricing, I second guess everything… a lot of times I’m breaking it down for people to make myself comfortable in situations because I’m spun up a lot of times with that stuff, we all get stuck in our heads. That’s why I started long longboarding, it was an hour where my brain shuts up.”

It just gets those voices quiet a little bit, and if I don’t pay attention, I eat shit, it hurts. So, you have to turn off those voices, the chatter, stay focused… that’s where I feel better because I’ll come back from those and I’ll just be sparked up and refreshed,” he said.

Drekker, Drekkerfest, and Collabs

For fans of Drekker Brewing, Punchgut’s work is instantly recognizable. His intricate designs, often filled with hidden surprises and Easter eggs, have become so beloved that some keep them as collector’s items. Some fans even peel the labels off cans to keep as mementos and will have Punchgut sign the labels at events.

But his collaboration with Drekker goes beyond making beer labels. He’s also involved in their signature events, like Drekkerfest, as well as the massive creation of Brewhalla. Alongside fellow illustrator Nathaniel Huhnke, Punchgut sketched ideas and helped craft both the festival’s and the market-hotel-brewery’s visuals.

“I’m lucky to have another illustrator where we can both jam on stuff, and I think it helps push both of us to work a little bit harder. And, I think it shows in the final products and the stuff we do,” Matt said.

onster Aren't That Scary

One of Punchgut’s philosophies is to break down barriers between art and the public. To engage the public with art and remove any intimidation that can come with it. At Drekkerfest, he hosts the “Monster Drawing Club,” where people of all ages can gather to draw without judgment.

“Nobody’s gonna say a monster is wrong,” Matt said. “That’s the one thing I’ve learned with kids—whatever you draw is correct or whatever you see is correct. So, we’ll roll out some paper, and I would have some ‘finish the drawing projects’ or draw shapes, and people will sit and draw with that stuff. That’s another way to break down that uncomfortable anxiety barrier with art.”

Beyond Labels: The Art of Experimentation

Punchgut is constantly experimenting with new techniques and materials. His pieces often come together over time—although there is no one length of time that he restricts himself to—with layers of glue, paint, and found objects to add depth and texture. His wall in his studio is one of the ways he determine’s a projects finality.

“Once it makes on that wall, it’s officially done. Then my brain pushes the stop button, and I’m free to start on a new one. Some of the ones I’ve been doing lately, I’ll start them, then halfway through stop if I’m getting a little bit stuck, and then pick them up later, and it’ll just change. It’s a week or month later. That’s the weird part, where if you’re trained in a world of design,

like commercial art, it’s about deadlines. That’s the deadline and that’s when it’s done. I’m deadline driven, that’s what I’m used to. So it’s weird to have something that can be done whenever and it doesn’t matter. It’s hard to calm that part of your brain down,” Matt said.

Advice to Aspiring Artists

For artists, Punchgut has advice

“Just keep grinding your stuff out. It doesn’t have to be about knowing that someone’s gonna buy it. Your skill level is not going to change if you aren’t grinding away and doing it yourself. You have to be prepared for if someone does say, ‘There’s a show,’ and instead of you just saying, ‘Yeah, I can do it,’ you have that stuff ready to go. Even if you don’t show it to anyone, it’s that progression. You really have to be obsessive about it. Because it takes a lot of time to it, get comfortable, and get better at it, and improve from it. To me, those are the artists that you can tell are supposed to be doing it. Because they can’t help it, they’re gonna be doing it either way, always creating stuff. Otherwise they just get a little sick, it’s something they have to do.”

“Even if you don’t have a job in that field at that moment, still creating is part of the process, just grinding away at it. You keep putting out more and more stuff. You can put it on an Instagram account, put it on a website. There are lots of things you can do to put that stuff out on your own and get it out there to the world, and then you’ll have these pages of images so when someone does come, you’re ready for it. Anyone can talk the talk. It’s getting your work ready to go, which sucks sometimes if you’re just cranking out work and you don’t think anybody’s seeing it, but it’s part of the process.”

Putchgut believes that artists can and should be obsessive about their craft, in order to consistently hone their skills and build their collection.

Throughout his career, Punchgut has found encouragement through progression, and that progression comes from an innate need to create

“To me, it’s that I love starting a new project, that’s the part that always motivates me. The closure of one project that you just finished and starting a new one. It doesn’t matter if it’s for client or if it’s for just you,” he said.

Through this, he has developed a lens or mindset in which he views art.

“I’m taking this time out of my life to create this art, which all art is—these are all little brief synopsis and flashes of a moment in an artist’s life, no matter who did it. That’s a moment in their life that’s up on the wall. In that brief moment, maybe they paid their cell energy bill late, or whatever—they have all this other stuff going on while creating and these moments somehow overlaid,” he said. “It’s just this little capture of a moment in an artist’s life— good, bad, positive, you have to sort that out.”

Punchgut’s philosophy on art and creating is an inspiring reminder of the unpredictable, yet rewarding, path of being an artist. And as for what’s next? We know he’s already excited about it—whatever it may be.

Check out Matt’s Instagram for more Punchgut content visit his website at punchgutstudio.com for more!

Instagram | @punchgut