Anna VanMatre — Contemporary Art Curator Magazine

Biography

Anna VanMatre is a Polish-born artist living in the U.S. She focuses on the dividing line between reality and the abstract by showing paradoxical forces, natural and human-made, ever-changing yet unifying, brutal yet beautiful. She has developed techniques utilizing synthetic paper, graphite layering, and three-dimensional effects involving cut and torn surfaces to generate an impression of constant motion. In halls and on stage, her giant installations envelop the observer in dramatic, cloud-like shadow effects. Other methods include multi-layered photography, three-color silkscreen on glass, lithography, foil transparencies, and LED lighting. Critics have described her works as “symphonies of blackness, gray and light,” “liberating the drawing idiom,” and “of theatrical character, an interaction between the stage and the audience.” Her works have been presented in exhibitions and lectures and are held in museums, libraries and private collections in Europe, Africa, Asia, and the U.S.

Artist Statement

“We fragile and vulnerable beings are susceptible to many forces - natural and human-made. With its essential aesthetic and complexity, NATURE has an intensity that terrifies us, but a beauty that amazes us. We are both witnesses and players in this great performance.” To make the viewers feel like they are in the middle of this spectacle, Anna VanMatre creates paintings as dimensional as possible. She uses powerful methods such as photography, cutting, tearing, and doubling the surfaces, to bring the audience directly inside the scene – an enactment of life with its conflict between fury and serenity, permanence and transience.

Website annavanmatre.com