Irka Mateo Print

My paintings are my voice. Each brush stroke is a silent word. Each color, tint and shade stems from a complex spectrum of feelings, ideas, sensations and stories that I hope will have resonance in the imagination and soul of the viewer.I choose to express questions, motifs and beliefs through figurative painting, because I believe it to be the most concrete, clear and impressionable form of artistic expression. Most of the subjects I portray are decisively naked, and this is because I believe that the nude figure, without the protection of clothing, is the greatest way to reveal the deepest truths of what resides within the human soul.The majority of my work explores a range that consists of traditional religious dogma and prejudice at one end, and the instinctive and emotive nature of human sexuality on the other. Though these two subjects are traditionally contrasted as being poles apart, I aim to demystify the prejudices and preconceptions which divide them, and instead, seek to bridge them through a contemporary interpretation that is rational, thoughtful and honest, as well as spiritual and sacred; This interpretation is never intended to be controversial or offensive, but rather, conciliatory and revealing.