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About Artist:
As a youngster, growing up in Oakville, Ontario, Matthew was looking forward to a workingman's life and hoped he would gain respect for being a damn fine carpenter. That all changed during an Elementary class visit to the McMichael Gallery in Kleinburg, a gallery renowned for exhibiting the largest collection of works by Tom Thomson and the Group of Seven. Of course he was familiar with the Ontario landscape but the interpretations offered by Group of Seven member Lawren Harris, with all that motion and colour, was inspiration enough to enroll in high school art classes. This is where he discovered his ability to draw and successfully interpret his own unique imagery to paper. Matthew is an enthusiastic outdoorsman with a deep respect and appreciation for nature and the environment.
Statement:
Since moving to BC in 1989 Matthew has been wandering around the Gulf Islands seeking to capture, in his own way, on canvas, the naturalness of our beautiful British Columbia. There is an almost musical rhythm to Matthew's style of interpreting the elements in each of his compositions. You can see the trees bending with the wind but not quite like you've ever seen before. Not abstract and not realistic. As a landscape artist, working exclusively in oil, he paints with gusto the quiet, rugged and ever changing but always the same British Columbia. Come visit British Columbia through Matthew's unique view.
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