Matt diLeo
Born in the early 1970s in a sleepy suburban hamlet of Newark, New Jersey, Matt diLeo began drawing as a child. The energy and pulse of the city during those early years captured his imagination. In his mind, the effect was as though his life took place inside a moving picture colored by the elements of popular American culture at the time. He was influenced by his Italian heritage, the films of Scorsese, Ford Coppola, and Spielberg, the futuristic visions of Star Trek, and the theatrical aesthetics of the rock band KISS. The centrifugal forces of these influences drew him to a life in art.
In 1991, he received a full scholarship to attend art school. During that time, he came to be influenced by Marie Roberts, most notably known for her sideshow banners. She emphasized the importance of authenticity and being mutable while engaging in the process of making art.
In 2004, diLeo received an MFA from Montclair State University. Though he was initially resistant to what he perceived as excessive structure, graduate study compelled him to examine his life experiences and find grounding in various grassroots communities in New Jersey and New York City. He came to believe that art reveals itself when the artist is prepared to be vulnerable and sufficiently open to life's experiences and emotions.
In the fall of 2004, he moved to Portland, Oregon, where he continues to live and create art.
Artist Statement
Come closer. Can you see it?
I’m in there. I’m in all of it, everywhere. My paintings reveal who I am—they always have. The works I’ve been making for as long as I remember are the visual vocabulary of my memory record, surroundings, good days, less fruitful moments, future desires, and ongoing dreams.
These works, in particular, are a series of responses to my life over the past several years. In each of these works, I’ve hidden in plain sight jewels from my experience that I attempt to bring to life on the canvas and to speak on their own from that point forward. Each of these paintings was made with a sense of urgency to capture the charge of that particular time in my life.
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