None But the Lonely Heart, Oil on Linen, 20×20″

Portugal-based Pedro Matos’ solo show Ephemera opens this Saturday, September 3rd, at the Shooting Gallery. In our interview Pedro explains his intentions of capturing a broader, more truthful reality than the distorted version we encounter daily through advertisements, entertainment and social networking. Pedro’s oil paintings reveal a beauty we may not normally see, a beauty seen in the effects of age and wear, not just on the cities we live in but on the faces of those around us. Read the interview below for more insight into the show and Pedro’s life as a quickly burgeoning artist.

RSVP Here

More After the Jump!

1. You first started painting at the age of 16 and have rapidly achieved international recognition. Did any complications come with that? Were you surprised by the impact your art had on its viewers?

I get quite surprised when I see, read or hear people’s positive feedback regarding my work, especially from people outside of the “art world”. Things like young kids doing school projects about my work, or old ladies liking my work in the streets, are very flattering and overwhelming. As for achieving any sort of international recognition, I am not sure it brought any complications. It brought many opportunities and with that comes many responsibilities. My life changed quite a lot in the sense I had to chose my priorities very wisely and give up on many other things I had going on.

2. There’s an interview I read where you mention feeling a bit as an outsider growing up in the suburbs of Lisbon? What sort of activities made you feel more included in your neighborhood? Did that feeling influence your art in any way?

I am not sure in what context that was in, but I don’t remember doing anything to become more involved. It was pretty much the opposite, I was doing things that annoyed people, like skateboarding, graffiti, etc.

3. A lot of your portraits have been of people that often are marginalized in an expanding city. What is it that often brings your focus on the homeless, elderly and poverty-stricken?

We are constantly fed with a distorted version of reality, whether it is on advertising, entertainment, tv, facebook, and so on. All that is represented are models, actors, and all sorts of characters. None of those are complete reflections of our society, our values, culture and the human condition.. So I felt the need to explore all that through painting people who would reflect more on what I am looking for and questioning, if this makes any sense.

Portrait of a Monarch, Oil on Canvas, 42×48″

4. You also paint portraits of friends and family, right? Do you do always do this from photos or do you ever have them sit in the studio?

I never painted anyone sitting. It’s very hard to have someone coming and sit for hours and days in a row. I take a very long time to paint, it would be too painful!

5. Your influences range from graffiti to the style of the Old Masters, what specific inspiration do you draw from each?

From graffiti and street art I found beauty in the aesthetics of decay, ripped posters, fast painted bombing and son on. On the other hand, juxtaposing with that, from the old masters I draw inspiration form light, color, oil painting, figurative painting, composition and so on.

6. What compels you to recreate the faded look of torn papers on your canvases? Is it a way to bring the aesthetic of wheat-pasted city walls inside? What meaning does ‘Ephemera,’ the title of your show opening at Shooting Gallery, have to your new body of work? What techniques do you use to create this effect?

Yes, I have been inspired by all sorts of city decaying aesthetics, from weather aging, tagging, graffiti, and especially torn wheat-pasted posters. All this is created in Oil painting, there’s nothing else to it. The show’s title “Ephemera” refers both to the visual ephemeral aspect of this things I have just mentioned as well as the subject matters I am painting about. Questioning the impermanence and volatility of culture, and the way that cultural, social and moral values and ideas are also very ephemeral and subjective.

Espelho Quebrado, Oil on Canvas, 42×48″

7. You’ve mentioned before that you travel a lot, is that with family or is it in response to showing your art? How does frequent travel affect your creative process? Do you have specific routines you like to follow when it comes to working on a piece?

I have traveled a lot with my family when I was younger, and when I started painting and showing it gave me the opportunity to travel with my work on my own. It doesn’t affect my creative process in the sense that I don’t work when I am traveling, I do it in my studio and then send them to where I will be having an exhibition on. I am not sure how it affects my work directly, but obviously I end up being exposed to a lot more cultures and aesthetics and all sorts of imagery and overtime it changes my own perceptions as well, both visually and conceptually.

8. Are the subjects in your work most commonly from your hometown or do you take inspiration from everywhere you go?

Everywhere, all the time.

9. When you’re not working, what occupies your time? Are you attending school?

There are so many things I am in love with and I am sorry I can’t do as many as I’d like to. Some of what fist that comes to mind is music, reading, bike riding, skateboarding, photography, playing piano, skateboarding, fashion, traveling, etc. I did attend art school for 3 years but I dropped out.

10. What projects do you have in store for the rest of the year? For 2024?

After this solo show I will be working on collaboration with the record label “Enchufada” and will start working for my upcoming solo show in 2024. I am also releasing a new print in October from one of the paintings on this solo show.