Michigan City 2023.17 Print

Mattheis hand is always present in his work, bringing the artist’s response to place onto the canvas, more than what the eyes see, the work is an emotional response. The work is done spontaneously, the genius of a place is captured in a single day. Too much time and the spirit will slip away. The painting is not a record of specifics, it is a mediation. The modern world moves at impossible unstoppable pace. Mattheis takes the time to stop and savor it, and you see this deeply in his work. The works often trigger the viewers own memories feel it viscerally, the raw emotion, reconnecting with nature. Color is an opportunity for an experiment, discovering unexpected combinations, working the interplay between transparency and opacity, working with the capacity of the medium. Mattheis grew up in Wisconsin at the edge of a forest. Surrounded by it every day, the deep resonance of wild places alive with a vital energy, and invisible hum of life force. His most favorite inspiration are northern Wisconsin forests color rich and saturated with a fresh afternoon downpour. Educated as an Architect, Mattheis is self-taught as a painter. He lives, paints and works in Chicago.