Hey there. Matt here.

I started painting in the basement of a little bungalow in Candler Park back in 2017. It quickly consumed most of my free time and all of our free space.

A move to Castleberry Hill in 2020 eliminated the basement. The hobbying-around suffered. That led to a new studio space near Oakland Cemetery in 2022 that allowed me to start doing larger work.

I primarily create with acrylics, charcoal and sprays. Everything is nonrepresentational and nonfigurative: paintings without purpose.

I could try to write a more elaborate artist statement about my past and my inspirations but it’s pretty simple.

I would draw flowers at Duke Gardens when I was kid but I quit.

My dad would draw birds as a young adult - especially pelicans - but he also quit. It was around the time that a seagull shit on him, so understandable.

The first painting that ever caught my attention was Frank Stella’s Raqqa II hanging at the North Carolina Museum of Art. Other artists that I really dig: Ian Rayer-Smith, Spencer Herr, Louisa Salas, Eamon Ore-Giron, Kevin Chambers, and John Felix Arnold III.

All titles of my works come from the words of James Tate.

When I’m not painting, I’m helping cities and nonprofits figure things out.

That’s about it.

*shaka sign*