We are incredibly inspired and in love with paintings of Matthew F Fisher, an artist (1976), who’s shown all over the world with solo exhibitions at Ochi Projects, Los Angeles; SHRINE, New York, NY; Taymour Grahne Projects, London, and New York 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.  

For the most part, I grew up in the vast MidWest: Minnesota, Michigan, and Ohio before moving to Virginia for grad school in 1998. For the last 20 plus years, with the exception of a few years in LA, I have called New York City home. Last year we moved into Manhattan and I got a studio there as well. Thus, becoming a true downtown painter.

I am super excited to have my third solo show with Taymour Grahne Projects next year in London.

Tell us about your greatest inspirations or influences?

When I think back, the Rene Magritee and Ed Paschke retrospectives of the late 80’s that I saw at The Artist Institute of Chicago loom large over my development. Both shows exposed me to the power of painting, how to make images that are both strange and familiar, and the importance of humor to tell a story.

Also, Georgia O’Keeffe’s Sky Above Clouds IV has a special place in my heart. An image so simple and abstract at the same time - a perfect description of a floating cloud and the act of painting itself.

Tell us a bit about your creative process?

I am always looking. What I paint is very specific, but I enjoy finding inspiration anywhere. I prefer to work off other people’s drawings and not photographs. Lately, vintage children's books have been a great source of inspiration for me. Funny little vignette drawings of shells or an animal act as the base of the composition. I also pick up dictionaries whenever I can. I love the simple drawings of objects within. I also use them to find titles. Once, I was doing a painting of an ocean at night, I looked up “night” in the dictionary. “The darkness between night and morning” was an instant title.

How has the pandemic affected your creativity and how do you see the world changing?

I am a painter, alone in the studio for hours, days, weeks. In a funny way, I have always been a pandemic. There’s no way these last two years haven’t changed me, us. I think people had more time to do online research and the conversations I have had about the work with people since have been surprisingly in-depth.

I think the world became both larger and smaller during the pandemic. That’s a change that won't go back anytime soon.

Who do you consider to be an icon of our time?

How, for the first time ever, it feels like we are living in the future. From Climate change to communication to who are our friends. Texting with someone in London, DM’s with a China collector, a social media network of people from around the world you’ve never met. Do you have any questions? Found something cool - don’t know what it is? Need a place to crash in LA? Post it - an answer awaits.

And sadly, climate change is so real and we are only benign to understand that.

What does wellbeing mean to you, and what do you practice?

It’s good to be in your own thoughts, away from the instant society we live in. Like using dictionaries to find titles, it’s the journey that finds the answer.

I keep the cell phone at home when I walk the dog. Keeps my head up, and my eyes out, and my mind clear. It’s only 20 -40 minutes a few times a day. But during that time, I am able to clear my mind and reset.

Anything else you would like to share?

Make yourself laugh. Humor is the life of living. And this life is worth living.

We invite you to view his work here.