Ink, acrylic and paper on canvas
It is with great pleasure that Mind Set Art Center is set to launch “Glowing Forests: Slices of Transient World”, a solo exhibition of Matěj Macháček. This will be the Czech artist’s most extensive solo exhibit to date and it marks his debut at the gallery. The show will put on display over 30 of his newest paintings and paper-based ink drawings. Through his vibrant colors and bold brush work, Macháček looks to interpret and ultimately transcend the transient moments in his daily encounters. The event is scheduled to run from 8 March through 11 April, 2025. An opening reception will be held at 3:30 p.m. on 8 March, with the artist in attendance. We cordially extend a warm invitation to you.
For this exhibition, Matěj Macháček has specially made a new triptych that that consists of three large paintings, respectively titled “Volcanic Fields”, “Stone Path”, and “Cascades”. Standing at close to 3 meters tall, the trio displays in full splendor the artist’s visual interpretation of memorable encounters. Mountains and trees are portrayed in monumental stature, closely packed and sprawling over the landscapes. Macháček paints the mountain ridges, the trees and the soil in translucent, neon-like colors, transforming the mundane into the otherworldly, distilling slices in the real world with his own topographical language.
Macháček’s unique color palette and perspective is very much a concoction of the visuals in our contemporary world and that of past masters. The artist is consciously aware of the speed of our modern time. While the ever-evolving technologies accelerate all activities to a blinding pace, the artist distances himself from the cacophony and looks to distill key moments in his life. He takes inspiration from past impressionist masters, such as Vincent Van Gogh and Paul Gauguin, and looks to elevate the ordinary encounters into transcendental moments. Ordinary scenes like the landscapes, the animals, the distance horizon, etc., are recreated, through his bold brushstrokes, into timeless moments in a utopia ---- a kaleidoscope where his artistic touch, memories, reflection and imagination collide and are ultimately fused into a higher consciousness.
It is through the act of painting that Macháček expresses his pursuit of capturing the utmost essence of life and leaving something meaningful. This sentiment is echoed by fictional portrayal of his idol: In the 2019 film “At Eternity’s Gate”, Vincent Van Gogh remarks in a moment of clarity,
“When I paint, I stop thinking, and I feel that I’m a part of everything outside and inside of me ... I thought an artist had to teach how to look at the world, but I don’t think that anymore. Now I just think about my relationship to eternity.”
