'I base the work on my own life experiences and thoughts. I believe thy self and subconscious are two of the greatest sources of inspiration.' —Milo MatthieuWith expressive and undulating gestural movements and striking colour, Milo Matthieu's 2020 painting, A Letter exemplifies the artist's fascination with self-observation, personal identity, and familial ties. As Matthieu describes, it is the ‘different facets of identity’ that remain of primary importance in his practice, explored most directly through an idiosyncratic ‘distortion of human anatomy’, as seen in the present work.i To gain intimacy with the inner workings of his own mind, Matthieu has adopted the philosophy and technique of 'psychic automatism', first pioneered by the Surrealists in the early decades of the 20th century. A means of embracing the unconscious and producing art in an almost meditative state, this practice allows the artist to create autonomously. In A Letter, Matthieu crafts the impression of this internal dialogue, using expression and feeling in his presentation of several fragmented figures, rendered in earth tones, and enmeshed together within an intense red vortex striated by threads of darker paint.
Matthieu's practice has been the subject of several solo exhibitions, including his 2022 Flowers Beyond the Sunset at Sorry We're Closed in Brussels, Belgium, Silenced, Yet Celebrated held at Kravets Wehby Gallery in New York in 2021, and Isolated Thoughts at The Cabin LA, Los Angeles, the culmination of Matthieu's time at the La Brea Studio Residency in 2020.
