Vito Matera, an expressive artist from the south of Italy, takes two natural elements as his primary generative materials: the blue waters of the Mediterranean and the robust grain of the wood on which he paints. His compositions in deep blues, pale yellows and searing reds combine acrylic paints and emulsion for a strong yet weathered effect. Applied to the sculpted and sanded wood, his painted gradients take on the added textures and forms of the wood, which is often cut in the shape of Romanic-Apulian cathedral façades. Within these architectural abstractions we glimpse stylized, surreal landscapes.
Matera’s dream-like images feature floating buildings and figures, bright moons and permeable horizon lines between sky and sea. Areas of extreme precision and thickly layered pigments give way to thinly applied tones that let the wood show through, fleetingly evoking smoothed driftwood. This contrast between robust materials and gentle, sensuous forms recurs throughout Matera’s works, conveying nature in all its harshness and subtlety.