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The Artist

Christopher Mathie, now represented by galleries from New York to Washington State, has developed a signature style with emphasis on deconstructing images to their most important lines and organic forms. He strives to capture energetic movement, emotion and shapes essential to communicate his ideas in paint.

Christopher on Painting:

I see my paintings as kind of dream like states, somewhere between reality and the more interesting abstract reality of my imagination. I try to allow pieces to emerge from my subconscious as I explore my emotions delving into both the light side and dark side of my personality. I'm not afraid to see what comes up.

I tend to work in many layers using opaque washes in some areas to cover and simplify and transparent glazes in some areas to reveal. I begin with a full composition in the gesso (or primer) layer creating heavy textures with palette knives and brushes. A second layer is usually random color flows and shapes. I work incredibly fast, bouncing from one canvas to the next adding and subtracting with little need to control my marks. I know these early layers will evolve, which gives me great freedom to express...

After drying over night I look at the paintings with fresh eyes and evaluate them for color dominance, structure, visual path, focal point, and value patterns (light and dark). I look for strong continuity between the pieces and see if a link is present that could form a series. I then begin to paint again — now with a little more thought but still shifting from canvas to canvas so that each piece evolves at the same time. I look at individual sections of the canvas for areas that work and do not work separately from the whole. Several more sittings occur, allowing the pieces to dry before the next layer is added.

Sometimes ideas pop into my head while painting, titles and phrases... I jot them down so that I can look at the pieces when they are finished and see if the titles still fit. Having some vague idea in mind what the pieces are about helps me to explore emotions and feelings while I paint. I do not worry about having any concrete meanings though because I intend the meanings to be as abstract as the paintings themselves. This also allows the viewer to bring their own experiences and interpretations to the work. I don't like to spoon feed my viewers.

Enjoy!

Getting Started—From Clay to Paint!

Christopher Mathie has truly established himself as a three dimensional Raku artist working in clay. However, taking advantage of scholarships for art school at the University of Puget Sound in Washington State, and prolifically devouring painting, drawing, pottery, sculpture and print making allowed him the opportunity to explore many mediums in order to find his artistic voice. By the time he graduated in 1994 with honors in art he had already achieved significant recognition from Seattle area galleries. And now both private and corporate collectors purchase his Raku sculpture and pottery and his abstract expressionist paintings.

Christopher's first years as an artist were spent exploring the Japanese tradition of Raku. In clay he became known for hand-thrown pottery, beautifully symmetrical, technical forms that were intricately carved with textures and patterns depicting nature. The pieces were glazed with swirling Raku colors — greens, coppers and golds with smoked areas, richly natural and compelling. But after years of working in clay and Raku firing he began to wonder if these beautifully organic characteristics could be captured two-dimensionally? He began to paint large acrylic abstracts that soon became more complex and rich with line and texture. He realized he was painting the appearance of his clay work. But in paint he could work even more boldly and expressively and found painting extremely large pieces allowed him to explore feelings and emotions in a new way. He began stapling large pieces of muslin to the wall, on which he could literally explode with energy!

Now in his late thirties, Mathie has exhibited in over eighty galleries and has a long list of collectors and achievements. Both Mathie’s ceramics and paintings are currently represented by major U.S. galleries in New York, California, Oregon and Washington State.

Click here to read article about Mathie's creative process.