ABOUT

FOR BRISBANE-BASED ARTIST MATT, MAKING ART HAS NEVER BEEN A CHOICE — IT HAS ALWAYS BEEN A WAY OF UNDERSTANDING THE WORLD.

WORKING ACROSS FIGURATIVE AND LANDSCAPE PAINTING, DRAWING, SCULPTURE AND PHOTOGRAPHY, HIS PRACTICE EXPLORES THE COMPLEXITIES OF THE HUMAN CONDITION, THE PSYCHE, MEMORY AND THE SOCIO-POLITICAL FORCES THAT SHAPE OUR LIVES. EACH WORK SERVES AS BOTH OBSERVATION AND COMMENTARY, INVITING VIEWERS TO PAUSE, QUESTION AND REFLECT ON THE OFTEN UNSEEN NARRATIVES THAT EXIST BENEATH EVERYDAY EXPERIENCE.

MATT'S WORK IS GROUNDED IN TRADITIONAL, MEMORY-BASED GESTURAL ART-MAKING. RATHER THAN RELYING SOLELY ON DIRECT OBSERVATION, HE DRAWS UPON LIVED EXPERIENCE, RECOLLECTION AND EMOTIONAL RESPONSE TO CONSTRUCT IMAGES THAT ARE AS MUCH PSYCHOLOGICAL LANDSCAPES AS THEY ARE PHYSICAL ONES.

VISUALLY, HIS PRACTICE SITS AT THE INTERSECTION OF CLASSICAL ACADEMIC DRAFTSMANSHIP AND CONTEMPORARY ABSTRACT EXPRESSIONISM. STRONG ANATOMICAL FOUNDATIONS MERGE WITH INSTINCTIVE MARK-MAKING, ALLOWING PRECISION AND SPONTANEITY TO EXIST WITHIN THE SAME WORK. WHETHER THROUGH PORTRAITURE, THE HUMAN FIGURE OR FIGURES EMBEDDED WITHIN EXPANSIVE LANDSCAPES, HIS PAINTINGS SEEK TO BALANCE TECHNICAL DISCIPLINE WITH RAW EMOTIONAL EXPRESSION.

THE RESULT IS A BODY OF WORK THAT IS BOTH DEEPLY PERSONAL AND UNIVERSALLY RESONANT — AN ONGOING EXPLORATION OF MEMORY, IDENTITY AND WHAT IT MEANS TO BE HUMAN.

BORN AND RAISED IN BRISBANE, MATT'S ARTISTIC JOURNEY BEGAN LONG BEFORE HE CAN CONSCIOUSLY REMEMBER.

"THERE WAS NEVER A TIME I CAN RECALL WHERE I WASN'T DRAWING OR PAINTING."

BEFORE ENTERING PRIMARY SCHOOL, HE WAS HOME-SCHOOLED IN ENGLISH AND THE CREATIVE ARTS BY HIS MOTHER, A UNIVERSITY-TRAINED EDUCATOR SPECIALISING IN CHILD PSYCHOLOGY, ENGLISH AND HISTORY. THAT EARLY IMMERSION IN CREATIVITY LAID THE FOUNDATIONS FOR A LIFELONG PURSUIT OF ARTISTIC EXCELLENCE. THROUGHOUT HIS SCHOOLING HE CONSISTENTLY RECEIVED FINE ART AWARDS AND WAS RECOGNISED AS DUX OF ENGLISH ON NUMEROUS OCCASIONS.

AN INSATIABLE CURIOSITY HAS ALWAYS EXTENDED BEYOND THE VISUAL ARTS. BY THE AGE OF TWELVE, AUTHORS SUCH AS ORWELL, HUXLEY, BRADBURY AND CLARKE HAD BECOME ENDURING INFLUENCES, WHILE A LIFELONG APPRECIATION FOR ARTHOUSE CINEMA AND SOCIALLY CONSCIOUS FILMMAKING FURTHER SHAPED HIS UNDERSTANDING OF NARRATIVE, CULTURE AND THE HUMAN EXPERIENCE.

MUSIC HAS BEEN AN EQUALLY IMPORTANT INFLUENCE. ACHIEVING AMEB CLASSICAL MUSIC THEORY AND INSTRUMENT LEVEL 7 BY THE AGE OF FIFTEEN, MATT DEVELOPED A DEEP APPRECIATION FOR COMPOSITION, RHYTHM AND STRUCTURE — QUALITIES THAT CONTINUE TO INFORM HIS VISUAL PRACTICE TODAY. HIS FATHER, A RESPECTED FRONTMAN WITHIN BRISBANE'S ROCK MUSIC SCENE THROUGHOUT THE 1960S TO THE EARLY 1980S, FOSTERED A LIFELONG APPRECIATION OF MUSIC THAT REMAINS CENTRAL TO HIS CREATIVE LIFE.

DRAWING INSPIRATION FROM ARCHITECTURE, PHILOSOPHY, SPIRITUALITY, ANTHROPOLOGY, LITERATURE, CINEMA AND MUSIC, MATT APPROACHES ART AS AN ONGOING INVESTIGATION INTO WHAT CONNECTS PEOPLE ACROSS CULTURES, HISTORIES AND GENERATIONS.

MATT'S FORMAL ARTISTIC EDUCATION SPANS SEVERAL OF AUSTRALIA'S LEADING ART INSTITUTIONS AND HAS BEEN SHAPED BY EXTENSIVE MENTORSHIP UNDER ACCOMPLISHED PRACTISING ARTISTS.