Get to know the amazing Matt Jukes below.
Matt: I’m not sure how to answer this question, as I’ve never really thought of this as a career. It’s never been a choice—it’s more a way of life. The inspiration to do my first art fair came when I was cleaning out my draw in the studio, trying to find some space for new work, and throwing the old work into the bins. Only to discover my studio buddies digging through the bins for my work. For the first time, I thought that my work would resonate with someone other than myself.
Matt: Art has always been part of my life. One of my earliest memories was telling my mother about painting a red car in kindergarten and being upset that it didn’t match my vision. As a child.
Matt: Like most wistful teens, I studied art in high school where I was attracted to the freedom from the right and wrong answers of my maths and physics classes. From here I got side-tracked by a graphic design degree and a career in advertising. Advertising gave me an understanding of emotion and human connection and how to archive it through shape and form, which I have taken into my monotypes.
Matt: Hazy memories. All of my work is about the search for almost forgotten memories which I capture through emotions, music and places. Most of the titles of my work are references to obscure song lyrics. This is because music along with colour, it helps shape the emotion of a piece. Music is constantly surrounding me, providing a soundtrack to my life, this means that a handful of words can fill me with emotion, take me back to a time and place in a second. In my work, I always try laying down a feeling of place and not a physical depiction. I want the viewer to share the same emotion and implant their own location from their memories.
Matt: Colour and colour theory are a huge part of my work. I see colour as liquid emotion, layered in cultural meaning. I start every piece with a search for a colour, and as I hand mix the ink together, an emotion associated with that colour starts to emerge.
Matt: Every piece is an emotional representation of a specific place, but I usually keep the location a secret as I don’t want to influence the viewer in finding their own place. So my question to you is: where is this place for you?
Matt: I find my favourite pieces are the ones which surprise me, the ones that pop up on the way to when you are looking for something else. My current favourite is a piece called “The Endless Sea”. It is much quieter than the others, as the tones are darker but strangely incandescent. I like that it’s a little tricky and doesn’t like to be captured by the camera. It only really shows its magic when viewed in person.
Matt: The next project I am really excited by departs from my current work and looks into the memories of the individual viewer. To do this I’m building a robot which will look at the viewer’s face and analyse their emotions before setting out to paint a representation of what they’re feeling.
Don't miss Matt's one of a kind monotypes. These beautiful pieces are now available.
Check out all of his work HERE
