matt gunn
about
statement
My painting is the frank expression of the world as I experience it.
Living my life as a laborer in the maritime northeastern United States has given me access to places and experiences not often expressed in painting, and certainly not by the laborers themselves. These rough-hewn places were built to be useful, not picturesque, but there is a kind of splendor in, say, the juxtaposed angles of massive cranes unloading gypsum or in the late-day sun striking a mountain of road salt.
I also enjoy painting the places I come across while traveling because painting deepens the experience for me. When I observe the world around me I pay attention to the light and to the human impact on the landscape.
BIOgraphy
I worked through the 90’s as an offshore commercial fisherman. Since then I have spent many years in landscape design and construction, I am currently working as a landscape mason in Southern Maine and coastal New Hampshire. In the mix is a goodly amount of time spent in and around various maritime trades including commercial diving, marine construction, and stevedore work running cranes from Boston Harbor to Portland, Maine.
I’ve been fortunate to travel a bit, too. Keep your eyes open for work from Iceland to China and a few spots in between. State-side you can expect a bit of work from the eminently paintable places my family and I reside; Portsmouth, NH, North Carolina’s Outer Banks, and of course my home state of Maine.
