Matera e' un pittore chiarista volante
sfottente sognante espressionista
fumettante guizzante illustrante e ironico

Raffaele Nigro

Vito Matera creates artwork imbued with lighthearted introspection, experimenting in a nontraditional format with color and form. Matera blurs the line between painting and sculpture. He shapes and sands natural wood surfaces, adding depth and richness with an acrylic emulsion. “I use wood as a live medium that compensates for the inertia of acrylic,” he explains. The artist revels in the texture of wood, varying the amount of pigment to allow the simple beauty of the wood’s texture to shine through and become a part of his work. An immensely appealing aspect of Matera’s oeuvre is that it allows his audience to enter a realm of playful abstraction. The colors of his homeland weave their way through his art – the rich blue of the Mediterranean, the pale, dreamlike glow of the moon, and vibrant splashes of a red and yellow sun all feature in his creations – and he creates sensual, curving gradients that draw the eye inward. Matera is inspired by Mediterranean myth and the imagination of popular culture. Simultaneously introspective and charged with a genuine sense of humor, his work makes light of the thought that serious art needs to take itself seriously.
Courtesy of Agora Gallery