Artist Feature: Michel Matil
Michel Matil's colourful and emotive paintings will be featured at the 8th Annual Integrate Arts Festival on August 15th and 16th. Michel is also showing at XCHANGES Gallery July 25th to July 30th, opening today - Thursday, July 24th - at 7:00pm.
Learn more about Michel's history and his work in his artist statement below:
ARTIST STATEMENT:
Even though drawing and painting was always part of my life, it was not until the seventies that I started having exhibitions in The Netherlands. My career itself was more in the field of diversity management, teaching, consulting and advising. After I left The Netherlands in 2003, being a full-time artist became more a reality.
I think 'freedom' is the word that fits best with my initial love for drawing in the sand, as well s working with colours my later work. The subject of my art is often the female figure as the centre of the universe, whether she is just standing there or dancing or being pregnant. There is a spiritual feeling or dimension to the representation of the feminine form.
In my thinking and feeling, it must be that we are entering an era in planetary development in which the feminine is the dominant factor in developing energy and forms, dancing and flowing lines, instead of (masculine) rectangular forms. I believe the feminine paradigm will bring more oneness thinking into the more dominant individualistic survival mode of our time. The feminine structure is more connected to the spiritual driving force as well, because of her direct involvement in creating life.
In modern times it seems that new approaches of art have come onto the scene. There was art you could hear instead of see and art that was nothing but light. What I find interesting here is that creating something is brought back to what seems the essence of art for me: activities and products that allow the non-verbal, not seen, not heard or felt, to become manifested into matter, energy, space and time, in whatever medium of form, but preferably one that can communicate a certain quality in a certain environment.
I am very much attracted to the world of colours, as emphasized in expressionism, as well as the technique of working in transparent layers, to be found in the work of the classical painters. I do like my work to have a kind of timeless radiance to represent the consciousness that we are.
— Michel Matil
Learn more about Michel Matil and his feature show at this year's Integrate Arts Festival on our website here.
Visit XCHANGES Gallery's website, here and follow them on Facebook to learn more about Michel's show and other gallery events and exhibitions.