BIO.

  North American artist, Matthew Hance, works primarily in oil. His paintings combine classical traditions of portraiture with an aesthetic sensibility of our modern age. 

  Matthew Hance studied at the Maryland Institute College of Art and Pratt Institute (USA). His work is in numerous collections both in The United States and internationally.

ARTIST STATEMENT.

  My inspiration to the traditions of portraiture started with the Renaissance period, which originated during the 14th century in Italy. The core characteristics of the period, which were most inspiring to me, were humanism and naturalism in its subjects. A focus on human experience, intellect, and emotions, leading to lifelike and individual portraits. 

  The Baroque period followed by the Mannerism Period in Italy were both very important chapters in the history of art that dealt with the portrait as subject matter. Some of the key stylistic features of the periods that were inspiring include intense emotion, chiaroscuro, distorted human figures, unnatural spatial constructions, and vibrant, unrealistic colors. 

  Jean-Auguste-Dominique Ingres and the Neoclassical period, which originated during the mid 18th century in Rome, is another important source of artistic inspiration. Ingres's expressive distortions of form and space, clean lines, and precision have become benchmarks for my approach to portraiture. 

 My work is not about creating a picture, but an experience. It is through that journey where you find memory and desire. I am interested in impermanence, without sacrificing psychological depth, and how that relates to a creative experience. I believe in a sense of concealment and transparency of an idea. Francis Bacon once said:”The job of the artist is always to deepen the mystery”. I believe imagination is like a pulse. A utopia of new beginnings. The goal is not completing a beautiful work of art, but understanding the leaps one took to get you there. My work is aimed at evoking a spiritual or an emotional response. Leo Tolstoy said it best: “Art is the intentional communication of feeling”.

I am interested in the idea of polarity, specifically in psychology, and how that idea can be applied to creating / understanding a work of art. Polarity refers to a relationship between two opposite tendencies, states, or concepts that are seen as a part of a continuum rather than distinct opposites, such as emotions (happiness and sadness ), hot versus cold, realism versus abstract (art), or relationship dynamics. 

The goal of understanding polarity is to find a balanced middle ground where both extreme sides are acknowledged, appreciated, and balanced, leading to greater insight and harmony.

This idea can be directly applied to understanding a work of art better. Simple psychology. What do you see and how does it make you feel? Feeling encompasses a wide range of emotional aspects of the human experience. Artworks express forms of feelings, by way of various elements, such as colours, shapes, and rhythms.

These fundamental concepts are an important part to experiencing and understanding my work, or at least starting a conversation.