Mario Matera

Born in Italy in 1968, Mario Matera developed an artistic practice shaped by a wide range of disciplines from an early age. He began painting as a teenager before progressively exploring illustration, graphic design, photography and moving images. This multidisciplinary background has deeply influenced his approach to painting, in which material, composition and visual rhythm play a central role.

His current work is rooted in a contemporary expressionist approach. Matera builds his paintings through successive layers, erasures and interventions on the surface. The use of the palette knife, scraping techniques, shifts in texture and strong contrasts gives rise to compositions that are both structured and instinctive, in which the image appears to emerge from a continuous process of transformation. Rather than focusing primarily on the representation of a subject, the artist seeks to convey an inner state, a tension or a form of energy.

Today, his work continues to explore the relationship between materiality, inner experience and painting’s ability to make visible what cannot always be expressed in words.