FORKING TRAILS

Pat’s “Dynamic Color” show at Waxlander

Destiny - Pat Matthews

When Pat Matthews first brought one of his abstract paintings into Santa Fe’s Waxlander Gallery & Sculpture Garden, it was so different from his landscapes that the gallery staff wasn’t sure what to make of it.
“They looked at me and said, ‘Pat, are you all right?’” the artist recalls. Then the painting sold--and fast. “After that they said, ‘Paint more of those!’” he says with a laugh. The successful experiment inspired Pat as he prepared for “Dynamic Color: The Freedom of Expression”, his upcoming Waxlander show running from May 21 through June 3. As the show’s title suggests, Pat’s new body of work goes in some wild new creative directions.

“I think you have to learn how to paint realistically first before you go into abstraction,” Pat says. As chronicled in our last blog post, the artist developed a keen eye for perspective in his career as an architect, originally trained in traditional landscape painting. Pat’s foray into abstraction is a more recent development, and emerged from his desire to capture all sides of the forests he explores.


Sunny Afternoon - Pat Matthews

 “When you’re out in nature, there’s so much that you can see and feel,” Pat says. “If I’m looking at a scene, I don’t just see a tree and a stream. I see shimmering light, I hear wind, I feel the warmth of the forest. I feel alive, and I feel emotions.”

When Pat channeled all of these feelings through his brush, tree trunks turned into shimmering pillars of light, the cool breeze showed up in dabs of blue, and the joyful emotions rising inside him appeared as a spectacular rainbow.

“The contemporary paintings seemed to capture the essence of the forest,” Pat says. The artist didn’t stop there, though. One day he was painting in an aspen forest and conditions were changing fast. “The wind was blowing, the light was changing. I was like, ‘How am I going to paint this?’” he says. 

Pat opened and closed his eyes, and then painted what he’d seen in that brief instant. Vertical ribbons of paint wove across the canvas as the artist replicated the cascade of colors from that single impression. The resulting abstract was the first in a growing series he calls “In The Blink Of An Eye”.

Autumn's Dance - Pat Matthews

At the Waxlander show, visitors will have the opportunity to view all three styles--traditional, contemporary and abstract. Pat is eager to see how people react to the highly varied work.

“You can tell they’re all my works because they’re all very textural and mostly very colorful,” Pat says. “But when I have a show and do all three of these styles, it almost looks like three different artists in the show. I don’t know many artists that are doing that.”

Even so, Pat stresses that he refers back to his classical training no matter what style he’s chosen. “I’m using a lot of the same techniques and thoughts,” he says. “I’m trying to tie in the lights and the darks, I’m trying to compose the painting to pull you in and make you explore the canvas.”

Browse the work that will be featured in “Dynamic Color” and you’ll find a thread that runs from Pat’s most representational works to his wildest abstracts: all of them are electrified by the spirit of the forest.

“Dynamic Color: The Freedom of Expression” features Pat Matthews and his wife Tracee Matthews. The show runs from May 21 through June 3 at Waxlander Gallery & Sculpture Garden, with a reception on Friday, May 24 from 5-7 pm. Click here for more information, follow Pat on Facebook for updates on his work!

Intrigue - Pat Matthews