Matthew F Fisher

Matthew F Fisher paints idealized scenes of nature that appear suspended in time, such as a perfectly uniform wave at its peak just before breaking. The meditative process through which he works is reflected in the calmness of his paintings. Fisher slowly and intentionally layers acrylic and ink onto the canvas, rendering objects with such dimension and volume that they appear sculptural against flat, gradient backgrounds. Inspired by childhood memories of spending time near the water and contemplating the vastness of the ocean, Fisher often paints seascapes featuring recurring motifs such as seagulls, crustaceans, and the rising and setting sun. These symbols are rearranged in each painting to create new compositions and narratives.

Matthew F Fisher’s (b.1976, Boston, MA) recent solo exhibitions include The Study of Shapes, SHRINE, New York, NY (2023), Sad Summer, The Hole, New York, NY (2021), Soft Nature, Ochi Projects, Los Angeles, CA (2019), Strange Light, Over Under Room, Brooklyn, NY (2018), Into the Blue, Johansson Projects, Oakland, CA (2018) and Observable Universe, Taymour Grahne Gallery, New York, NY (2017). Group shows include Someday Morning, alongside Brian Scott Campbell at Johansson Projects, Oakland, CA (2022), Paper Views, The Hole, New York, NY (2019) the two person exhibition Night Waves alongside Casey Cook, SHRINE, New York, NY (2018) and Pro Forma: Context and Meaning in Abstraction, curated by Dr Vittorio Colaizzi, Work Release, Norfolk, VA (2017). He is the recipient of residencies and awards from the Pollock Krasner Foundation (2016), Yaddo, Saratoga Springs, New York (2015, 2007) and the New York Foundation for the Arts (2010), among others. Fisher received his MFA from Virginia Commonwealth University (2000) and his BFA from Columbus College of Art and Design (1998). Matthew lives and works in Brooklyn, NY.

CV

Matthew F Fisher Presents The Study of Shapes @ Shrine, NYC, July 19, 2023 by Evan Pricco
“Matthew F Fisher is a painter of depth while using the flattest of methods. He plays with color and shapes, the slightest of textures and a hint of surrealism to look at nature, painting the sea and the coast and the objects we find there.” Link

Newcity Art, “The Color Blue: A Review of Matthew F. Fisher’s ‘Lakes’ at Devening Projects”, December 7, 2022 by S. Nicole Lane  
“Fisher’s works also create a world without humans. Without figures present, the paintings’ main entity is the water. The viewer is invited to meditate on the color blue, to become enraptured in the hue, and to abandon their reality and join the utopic setting.” Link

Ninu Nina, “Artist Matthew F Fisher”, September 18, 2021 by Leila Antakly
“Funny little vignette drawings of shells or an animal act as the base of the composition. I also pick up dictionaries whenever I can. I love the simple drawings of objects within. I also use them to find titles” Link

Surf Simply Magazine, “Drawing Everything Out Of Nothing”, 2020, by Kim Feldmann In a way, my paintings exist within the reality of one’s memories. When we think of a particular wave, rarely do we recall an exact wave. Just like sunsets, rocks, and seagulls. Instead, our minds summon a collection of waves and create a facsimile of what waves are. My images are not real; rather, they are idealistic representations of what we thought we saw. In that sense, everything is real. Link

Dateagle Art, “Pastel Hues and Mesmerising Blues”, December 19 2018, by Lara Mono
Matthew F Fisher’s paintings of nowhere beaches and organic forms continue to develop, as does their synergy with the sun-soaked city. Fisher’s distinctive horizon line paired with rock motifs, beach and sand are complimented by his colour palette, which is defined by his use of pastel hues and mesmerising blues. The artist celebrates his choice of imagery for being both universal yet deeply personal, and continues to follow the rule: ‘no layer will be painted only once’, which ultimately creates work that forms a unique density of colour and texture. Link

Metal Magazine, “Abstract Nature” by Arnau Salvadó
“‘The true paradox of these paintings is that they really are about nothing. At the exact same time, they are about everything, which is the magic of abstract painting’, tells us Matthew F Fisher, whose exhibition Soft Nature is on view at Ochi Projects in Los Angeles until February 16. Get to know his sunsets, sunrises, blooming flowers, fish and giant rock – a beautiful portrayal of his ‘amazement of Mother Nature and her power’” Link

Juxtapoz, “Matthew F Fisher’s Portraits of Beachscapes In ‘Into the Blue’”, February 5, 2018 by Sasha Bogojev
“..Both his ink drawings and acrylic paintings have the aesthetics of vintage futuristic air-brush art, notable through use of precise gradients, conspicuous line work, or bold space imagery. This glossy finish and careful construction is in direct juxtaposition with Fisher’s evident hand drawn technique, which adds an indisputable charm to finished works. This contrast is emphasized in almost realistic details such as beach sand which are painted using 10-15 layers of tiny dots in different shades, applied using an old toothbrush. This particular element also confirms his dedication to producing hand-drawn work, using common materials and techniques. Portraying moments that might have happened or will, the NY-based artist freezes these once-in-a-life-time moments into harmonious, perfectly composed images, where just about everything aligns wonderfully…” Link

SF/Arts Monthly February 2018 Christian Frock 
“Evoking the graphic tendencies of 1970s landscapes, the paintings of Matthew F Fisher resonate with a kind of uncertain nostalgia, simultaneously occupying a bygone era of aesthetics and contemporary painting. These highly stylized works draw comparisons to the strange surrealism of Magritte, with undulating water and haloed moonlight as recurring motifs.” Link

Greenpointers: “Thursday Spotlight: Life After Greenpoint, Catching up with Matthew F. Fisher” February 1, 2018 Madeline Ehrlich
“Leaping synchronized waves, stoic ocean rocks, and tides peeling back to reveal glittering sand are all seemingly familiar imagery, but now with a West Coast influence…”The paintings are almost like this snapshot, or a wink in time I am capturing”…A lot of the imagery comes down to a boyhood wonder of the greatness of this universe and trying to understand how we fit into this cosmic ballet.” Link

Whitehot Magazine, “Taking from Life: My Phone Call with Matthew F Fisher” December, 2017 Paul Maziar
“A certain philosophical depth persists in Matthew F Fisher’s cool, beach-centered paintings. His brightly-hued works are mellow, pleasant at a glance and could be construed as just being flatout dreamy. But their colors, the strangeness of their warped scale and juxtapositions of forms enchant perceptually. The often symbolic elements in Fisher’s images also evoke the ineffable, bearing a deeper vision. As a result, his work always provokes imagination.” Link

Timeout New York: Matthew F Fisher, “Black Water Don’t Shine Like the Moon” February 12, 2015 Joseph R.Wolin
“Fisher’s often humorously literal line recalls cartoons, and his ornamental treatment of natural phenomena brings to mind certain strains of folk art. But these drawings also evoke the abstracting love for nature’s vitality shared by early American modernists like Arthur Dove and Georgia O’Keeffe, as well as an oddball mysticism. Quietly cultivating an idiosyncratic vision, Fisher’s work becomes nothing short of visionary.” Link

ArtCritcal: “A Complete Eye of Water: A Summer Show at Ampersand Gallery” September 19, 2015 Paul Maziar
“If Fisher’s subjects are maritime (though not specific to any era), they remain in limbo between loose and tight, specific and abstract, atmospheric and microscopic. In Meaningless, Fisher’s layer-by-layer process of painting is revealed through the curious buildup, or rollup, of the water’s edge up to a very granulated beach. This feature of water is highly strange, in that we can deduce its being water, though it also looks like something else. Plastic or rubber, in any case something you could peel away, roll back up and tuck under your arm.” Link

Portland Mercury: “Properties of Water in The River Keeps Talking” August 19, 2015 Megan Burbank
“Working in a set of freaky seaside motel-esque near-neons, Fisher’s fractured landscapes feature confusing perspectives set by super-low horizons; further destabilizing is his penchant for putting abstract shapes into almost-representational settings. What the fuck, Matthew F Fisher?” Link

New American Painters:  “Endless Summer: Prolonged Moments Among Season Gallery’s Paintings” August 2015 Erin Langner
“Brooklyn artists Caris Reid’s Water Warriors and Matthew F Fisher’s waves were at home in this natural light that felt so unnatural. Their mutual undulations—between flatness and dimensions, between stillness and motion, between realism and illustration—played back and forth among the evening’s encroaching shadows. Fisher’s tongue-in-cheek, paintbrush-swipe waves lightened the rigid expressions of the Water Warriors.” Link

Huffington Post: “If You Ain’t a Reflection, You’re a Wave: Interview with Matthew F Fisher” March 14, 2014 Ridley Howard
“Waves have been crashing and clouds floating for as long as time itself. Nature always does its thing; we’re just in the way. The fun thought is that there is a world of life hidden just below the surface. These exact truths don’t fuel my work, but I just love the idea that a single line, horizontal to the bottom of canvas, automatically sets up a here and there, us and them, land and sea, lost and found. It’s as old as time.” Link

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