The Apple, variation IV Painting

Matt was born in 1981 and grew up in Abu Dhabi, Singapore and England. Now based in London, he is a classically trained artist who works in oils and charcoal. Matt began his training in traditional drawing and painting methods in 2005, studying at a number of contemporary ateliers in the UK and Europe. In recent years Matt’s main focus has been still life, though he also has interests in portraiture and landscape. Influenced by traditional oil painting techniques, he uses multiple layers of paint to achieve deeply atmospheric compositions, combined with an economy of means to achieve lifelike representation with a minimum of brushwork. Matt's work has been published in international contemporary art publications and hangs in private collections in the UK and Asia. He has completed a number of portrait, landscape and still life commissions. Artist Statement Influenced by the old masters but inspired by 20th century and contemporary still life practitioners such as Walter Murch and John Morra, I seek to escape the genre’s stereotypes through innovative compositions and subjects. I explore the material culture that we create around us, devoting careful scrutiny to objects that otherwise pass unnoticed. In recent works I have begun exploring the theme of games. I am interested in reflecting the beauty of the objects we create for our pastimes and the compositions that are created – fleetingly – as those games progress. But also to give the viewer some sense of the presence of those unseen players who have – perhaps temporarily – left the arena.