Robert DiMatteo is an artist, writer, critic and teacher who lives and works in the New York metropolitan area. He did his undergraduate study at Pratt Institute and received his Master of Fine Arts degree from Yale University School of Art. He has exhibited widely throughout the United States and has his work in a number of museums and private collections.

“In as much as painting is, first and foremost, about relationships these works are primarily about the relationship of the organic and synthetic worlds. I have long been interested in the way in which we live this dichotomy. The work presents this relationship through a vocabulary of odd shapes (both organic and geometric) that focus on color, space and surface/tactile qualities that challenge perception and engage the viewer on a multitude of levels, in particular, the way in which memory and experience translate into color and form functioning both as mental image and as sign.

Materials add another dimension to this concern for the organic and synthetic (i.e. coal slag, glass, metallic paints etc.) and are either real surfaces in the paintings or are visually reproduced. A variety of materials, combined with the ways in which these materials are applied and manipulated, contribute to an overall engagement with the surface and visual tactility.

In all, these works are an inclusive, dynamic expression of human experience, that pertains to the organic and synthetic worlds, and are a reflection of the ways we straddle these two worlds with an abstract relationship to both.”