Matthew Olyphant

Matthew Olyphant was born in Oakland CA. in 1972 and raised in Modesto CA. Matthew studied fine art throughout high school and then moved to Berkeley CA. in 1990 where Matthew attended the University of California at Berkeley.

While attending University Matthew studied color and composition and fine art/painting under the instruction of Kim Anno and Loretta Dunkleman. During those intermediary years Matthew showed his work extensively in many public art spaces and also in the UC Berkeley art gallery with other undergraduate artist.

Most of Matthew's paintings are very visually engaging and have received a tremendous amount of attention in the entertainment world. His paintings explore the tensions that often exist between humans and their surrounding environment. Jagged, spiky lines covering dramatic conflicting colors, misspelled words and phrases shared space with vague scratchy characters and city scape s that come alive. Composition, based largely on shape and movement, plays a role in creating that sense of tension and harmony. However, Matthew also skillfully employs color to support his aims. Color and texture function to reveal mood and gain a reaction by the viewer. Relationships among colors suggest harmonies or discord among people and their environment.

Matthew draws on environment, memories, thoughts, and emotions to create his visual pictures. The paintings are highly personal, but the artist strives to create images that are also archetypal so as to allow for more universal, metaphoric associations. He is also interested in exploring patterns of learning and communicating through visual art. By merging visual cues with these ideals, he composes paintings that are layered with content.

Matthews style is influenced by Picasso, Basquait, Johns, and Braque, a "primitivist" style. At first glance it would appear that he was merely a primitive, but in reality he is appropriating the style of other primitivist artists, making him something of a paradox. What identifies Matthew Olyphant as a artist is courage and full powers of self-transformation. That courage, meaning not being afraid to fail, transforms paralyzingly self-conscious 'predicaments of culture' into confident 'ecstasies of cultures recombined in diverse engaging environments'.