Today we’d like to introduce you to Matthew Grabelsky.
Matthew, we’d love to hear your story and how you got to where you are today both personally and as an artist.
I’ve been making art my entire life. I grew up with artistic parents. My father worked in film and television production, and my mother was a dancer. Strangely, when I was growing up I never considered pursuing art as a career. I studied astrophysics in college with the intention of becoming a research scientist. After I graduated, I decided to take a year off to study figurative painting in Italy before starting graduate school in astrophysics. After a couple of months in Italy, I realized that my real passion lay in art and I haven’t looked back!
We’d love to hear more about your art. What do you do and why and what do you hope others will take away from your work?
I make highly detailed realistic oil paintings of people with animal heads. I’ve always loved animals and been fascinated by the ubiquity of part human/part animals creatures seen throughout world mythology. Examples include the Minotaur in Greek mythology and Ganesh in Indian mythology among many others.
I take these creatures and place them in contemporary everyday settings. My concept is to capture the subconscious of the characters portrayed and thereby give the viewer a window into their minds. I often include humorous references that connect with the animal portrayed and help tell the story.
Do current events, local or global, affect your work and what you are focused on?
I am very aware of current events, but they are not a big driver of my paintings.
My goal is to make life more interesting by giving people fun, enigmatic images with which they can interact and create their own story. Life can seem overwhelming given the constant churn of news and our day to day responsibilities, and so I see art as a place where we can go to find enjoyment and let our imaginations roam.
Do you have any events or exhibitions coming up? Where would one go to see more of your work? How can people support you and your artwork?
Drop by Thinkspace Gallery in Culver city where three of my drawings are currently on display. At the moment I’m working on a group of new paintings for my next solo show which opens August 3rd at Thinkspace.
Contact Info:
- Website: grabelsky.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/grabelsky/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/grabelsky
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/grabelsky
Image Credit:
The photo of me is by Birdman (@birdmanphotos on instagram)
