"I paint my experience honestly and expressively, sometimes taking a romantic view of city life and at others portraying the melancholy and isolation of the city, or documenting the ever changing skyline."
Matthew Thompson is a mixed-media visual artist based in Manchester. This viewing room showcases his newest works depicting the energy of urban areas of Manchester and Europe.
Thompson's energetic approach to mark making produces texturally exciting works that keenly describe the realities of living in fast moving and changing urban areas. Creating art since 2007, he is originally from Huddersfield and a graduate of Manchester School of Art.
Now based in South Manchester, he commutes into the city on his bike and as the sights rush past him he takes mental notes for his works. This idea of being on the move and of gradual change lends itself well to the idea of the contemporary cityscape and the every increasing pace of the lives acted out within it.
Working in mixed media using acrylic & emulsion paint, chalk & oil pastels, and charcoal produces an effect similar to the viewer actually moving through the picture plane. Standing in front of each piece never feels static, instead his hand creates an illusion in which the eye moves over changing weather, busy people and journeying traffic to exciting effect.
