Mediums - Acrylic, Mix Media

Artist's Statement -Matthew Beall is an American painter who has lived in Germany since 2000. His large paintings reflect an ongoing exploration of both abstracted landscape and color. Emotional and gestural his work suggests a world that exists between the bright neon lights of California and the shadows of Germany. Born in 1962 in California, essentially self-taught as an artist, Beall worked for many years creating custom designs for the steel exterior of automobiles. He has had numerous group and solo exhibitions of his paintings in both Europe and the United States. His work is in many important private collections. In his recent work partial faces and enigmatic eyes emerge from gorgeous and sensuous fields of color. Mysterious and moody these figurative elements function as portals, or windows, into what appears to be a mystical and primal landscape. These paintings are large and this scale creates an alternate world to enter. This is a world that references numerous art historical moments as it suggests a place that is solitary, unknown and, ultimately, lonely. The paintings are not so much about individual identity as they are about a rapidly altering collective identity that forms as physical and cultural boundaries change and often dissolve. Beall has stated that for him painting is a deeply intuitive process and not readily accessible by words. And, indeed, particularly in his recent paintings, there is a suggestion of the physical world dissolving into a shimmering aura that lies just beyond our last thought or breath. The paintings are, as much art is, an articulation of longing. A longing for a place both remembered and not yet discovered. Beall’s vision, however, is not a romantic or pastoral one; rather it alludes to colliding cultures and an attempt to find solace in the seeming permanence of art history and the past. In ways this work combines this quest with the bright, fast-moving optimism that marked the contemporary California culture in which the artist lived for many years. Beall`s landscape is a provocative and suggestive one that speaks poignantly to a world that is increasingly open-ended and fluid. It is a place that knows no dominion and is continually being redefined.

Biography - Matthew Beall Matthew Beall is an American artist who has lived in Germany since 2000. His often monumentally scaled paintings are concerned with linguistic structures and ways art can bridge cultural divides and boundaries. He is intrigued with innovative methods of establishing collaborations with artists and others that span continents and create new and thought provoking art forms in the process. Learner, teacher, world traveler, coffee drinker, former long-distance runner and surfer, Beall’s life and art defy easy categorization. Born and raised during the 1960s in southern California his evolution as an artist is deeply ingrained in this experience. For fifteen years his canvas was the hot metal of California; he was an award winning custom painter of cars, Harleys, and surfboards. Traveling has lead him to the far reaches of the globe, and he has lived in Brazil, Czech Republic, Mexico, the Netherlands, and now Germany. Today he runs an intercultural communication and language training program that innovatively provides participants with insights and skills to interact across cultures. Jazz, particularly the work of Monk, Brubeck, Davis and Coltrane, informs the cadence of his art. But so too does bits and pieces of architectural details, landscapes, food, sports, snippets of history, and the deep imprint of art and human renderings found in every culture throughout the world. The fascination and solace he encountered as a child while reading his grandfather’s art books continues in the subtle shuffling of art historical references glimpsed in his paintings. Beall ‘s paintings have been exhibited in the United States and Europe and are in many private and public collections. He is currently working on a new body of work entitled, ” Perceptions: An Ongoing Series.” These paintings question and expand the tenants of both abstract and figurative communication systems and are the first stage in a project that is conceived as an ongoing dialogue and collaboration with others.

Gallery Affiliations -

Exhibitions - 2008 Kunstraum Kreuzberg ANONYMOUS DRAWINGS N°9, Berlin, Germany; Group exhibition 2008 Brenda Taylor Gallery, NYC, NY; group exhibition 2007 Ott Cucina Gallery, Ulm, Germany; one person exhibit 2006 Art Ireland, Dublin, Ireland; group exhibition 2006 Marziart International Galerie, Hamburg, Germany; group exhibition 2005 University of Ulm, Germany; one person exhibit