Born in 1957, I grew up in rural Southern California,
to parents who instilled in me an intense sense of inquisitiveness.
Their sensual reverence for things handmade led me to
the visual arts as a way to respond to this world .
"Nest", Ceramic
I experimented with many mediums: metal, ceramics, wood,
but in 1973 stained glass fully captured my attention.
I spent the next eight years developing line and color sense,
unknowingly laying the foundation for painting….
"Weight", Watercolor on Paper
By 1984, I was looking for a more direct way to make pictures.
Connecting with the vibrancy of watercolor,
I began to paint in earnest.
But again, by 1993 I grew restless with the limitations of my medium.
I needed something that I could wrestle with
physically and mentally,
a way to explore viscerally what was going on inside my head.
So I began developing my own way of working with oils:
I paint on wood panels that I carve with mallet and chisels.
The physicality of this new work is very important to me,
both in the making of it and the finished piece.
The materials and sculptural qualities of the artwork itself
are as vital as the images portrayed and
the physical action of creating each piece.
Ken Mattson 2009