about

Bio

Matteo Bernasconi is a visual artist and owner of Peach Black Gallery. Born in Italy, Matteo graduated as an architect, however from a young age; he had a talent and a love for visual arts. Leaving architecture and Italy behind, Matteo has now settled in Australia, working full time as a professional artist. His work has been primarily exhibited in Italy, Spain and Australia and is currently held in private collections internationally. He currently lives and works in Sydney, Australia. He was recently selected for the Shirley Hannan National Portrait Award. You can see Matteo’s work at Peach Black Gallery, 97 Regent street, Chippendale, Sydney.

Approach

Today the modern Art scene needs to typecast artists based on a particular series or method, often dangerously treating the method like style. My art is not a process and I don’t have a specific method, I experience it in a more universal way, otherwise it would be too narrow and predictable. Art is exploring, evolving, and a lot of gambling.

I don’t limit myself to one technique, I vary it, according to the topic. I am curios and interested in something new and unexpected, and when I am good at something and I understand it, I abandon it and move on, looking for something else to explore. Forget all the rules you learned yesterday in order to discover something new today, without being a hostage of your own knowledge.

I don’t have a specific method, I feel that my method and technique changes every time I start a new painting, the approach needs to be related to the subject and the topic. I use techniques in different way to that in which they have worked before or for which they
were originally made for.

Topics

My work touch different topics, in the last years I explored different sides of the human condition.
I am interested in exploring dark places that we normally don’t allow ourselves to explore but exist behind everyday life, and how, as animals, we react depending of the influences of our environment.
I am influenced by the people around me. I want to catch, trap their energy, not only the appearance.

I describe the two sides of humans beings, the duality is a recurring characteristic in my paintings. I show not only the mere physical appearance, the facade, but I focus on unveiling something else, unseen. I want to expose what the subject is, not only who the subject is.

I think the artwork needs to engage the viewer. The viewer needs to psychologically feel it and experience it. The painting works when it make us think and ask a broader range of questions. Whether through multi-figured compositional or with solitary strait portraits I often leave the painting open, with a sense of uncertainty.

Painting

When I paint I rely on the unpredictable qualities of the medium, I believe that painting is a delicate balance between chances and intervention. I try to be spontaneous when I’m working, and this often reflect in the painting.
Painting for me is like directing without over imposing, it’s try to find the right balance of intervention and freedom, leaving the medium to express itself. This approach brings you to a series of incidents/chances that normally open up you opportunities to work with.

The unpredictability that happens on the surface has an important role in my painting process, and it is my role as an artist to give a form to these incidents/chances. The result of a good painting often is when appearance take form by a bunch of different mistakes that harmoniously work together.