Spotlight Artist

Matt Toledo

Pacific Coast
Artist profile photo

Jimmy Wong’s Brown Velvet

Colorful abstract still life with geometric objects and a hanging yellow lamp.

oil on panel

The Low Point

Art supplies and a fish outline arranged on a tabletop with a blue gradient background.

oil on canvas

The Weight, The Anchor, My Better Half

Large rock on a platform in water, partly covered by a cloth with blue symbols.

oil on panel

Featured in New American Paintings1 / 3

Artist Statement

 I am a Local 80 Motion Picture Film and Studio Grip, as well as a self-taught, who studies the work of several artists, including René Magritte, Juan Gris, R. Crumb, Eileen Murphy, Cennino Cennini, Kenneth Price, Koo Schadler, Frank Zappa, Fernando Botero, and Giorgio de Chirico. My goal is to use this line of work and interest as a vehicle for travel and experience; to have output and chip away at the unconscious mind; and to think less, learn the material, and make thoughts tangible.

This current series seeks to highlight the good times. It is dedicated to the mundane, the double life, the cartooned reality; to stressing the daydream and tasking the hobby; to the slow start, the weight, the anchor, your better half; to blue ink and yellow highlighter; to deviating from the work plan and to the things that keep you coming back. It is dedicated to time allotted, time appreciated, and time taken advantage of; to driving around, drinking coffee, and listening to the radio; to the “Just one” that turns into midnight and the “one more for good times;” to an excuse for another habit and an excuse for another thought.

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