Matthew F Fisher (b. 1976) is an artist from Boston, MA currently living and working in NYC. His artistic practice contemplates nature’s life cycles and the universe at large using a highly stylised visual language of recurring motifs: frozen waves, statuesque seashells and crustaceans, monolithic rock formations and radiating suns frequently become the protagonists in Fisher’s compositions.
His interpretations of sky and sea are carefully constructed with a focus on balance and symmetry. The horizon is broken down into linear bands of contrasting textures. A landscape dissected into something so concise reminds us of the power of the world around us in its simplest form. The linearity of the works evokes the idea of perfection, emanating from the natural world, and the recurring use of seashells reinforces this notion; a ubiquitous yet extraordinary form that signifies the phenomenal creations of the cosmos. The artist regards the shell as “a marker of growth, life, protection, the outer visible self”, and emphasises this emblem of life by anchoring them in the centre of the works.
Fisher describes: “Of the sea, but not in the sea. The meaning of the shell is heightened by its floating above an image from which it came. It is the lasting homage to a life lived, and at times, a life given. A marker of days past, a physical reminder of now. Like the clouds above, and the mountains above them, our reality is not limited by what we can see, or know, but rather by the immensity of what we cannot see and do not know.”
Fisher’s elemental interpretation of landscapes leaves space for the spectator to appreciate the quiet powers of the universe. Though small in scale, his works grapple with profound themes surrounding existence, presence and time.
Matthew F Fisher's works are included in major public and corporate collections, such as the New York City Department of Education - Public Art for Public Schools, Fidelity Investments, Boston, MA; the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts, Philadelphia, PA and Dogfish Brewery, Milton, DE collections. He has shown nationally and internationally, with solo exhibitions at Ochi Projects, Los Angeles, CA; SHRINE, New York, NY; Taymour Grahne Projects, London, UK; Johansson Projects, Oakland, CA; Over Under Room, Brooklyn, NY; and Taymour Grahne Gallery, New York, NY among others.
He is a recipient of the Pollock Kranser Foundation grant, the painting fellowship from the New York Foundation for the Arts and a full fellowship from the Vermont Studio Center, Johnson, VT. Matthew received a BFA from Columbus College of Art and Design (1998) and an MFA from Virginia Commonwealth University (2000). He has completed one artist residency in Pasaquan, Buena Vista, GA and two in Yaddo, Saratoga Springs, NY. He also participated at the Millay Colony for the Arts taking place in Austerlitz, NY.