Bio
Matt Hopen is a painter, woodworker, and educator based in NJ. His paintings range in media from acrylic and oil, to hot glue on cardboard. Drawing inspiration from outsider art, folk art, and expressionism, he creates a variety of work that is defined by his own creative language and unique techniques. A driving ambition of his practice being to reveal the beauty of the day to day world.
As a student, Matt participated in an exclusive arts program, Pratt in Venice. And after receiving his BFA in painting from Pratt, he backpacked solo around Europe with a focus on visiting some of the greatest art museums in the world.
Professionally, Matt has become a skilled woodworker at a renowned Furniture Restoration Shop. He has also worked at an Archival Picture Framing Shop in Brooklyn and as a Woodshop Instructor.
Artist Statement
Like a hidden gem you might find at an antique store, Matt Hopen’s paintings are covert depictions of uncanny creatures and objects. They are a collection of personal relics.
Sometimes Matt starts a painting with abstract paint splatters or collage, letting intuition guide him towards discovering obscured imagery.
His paintings play with familiar themes in art, such as outsider art, folk art, and Eastern art. Yet, they hold an ambiguous reality of their own produced on unconventional materials like cardboard, hot glue, and paper scraps. These materials reveal sentimentality within the mundane.
In addition to painting, Matt is passionate about making frames for his work. He believes that a frame enriches a painting by serving as an extension of the art itself. Matt paints to reveal the beauty of simple things.
-Matt Hopen