Matt Payne
Urupukapuka Pōhutukawa
Acrylic on Canvas
800 x 800 mm
Sold
“For me as an artist, all of my paintings are small captured experiences of places I’ve been to and explored. Sometimes I get to translate my excitement for a place onto canvas straight away, and other times an experience or moment will sit with me for a long time.
I clearly remember this moment on Urupukapuka Island over twelve months ago, on a family holiday. We were going for a walk over the hills from the campsite, along cliffs and through bush. When we walked past this view I (typically) stopped to take photos for ten minutes while everyone else wandered on, because it was the perfect distillation of that amazing place – headlands, islands, beautiful water, all surrounded by these incredible pōhutukawa trees.
Each of my paintings is a reflection of places I’ve been and experiences I’ve had. Sometimes, however, I get to spend time really looking back on a special moment that has been waiting, sometimes for years, before I translate it onto canvas. This painting and composition have existed in my head for over a year until now. It was lovely to reflect on that time with family, and the landscape that was so impactful.” – Matt Payne
Artist Bio
Matt Payne is an Auckland based landscape painter who specialises in capturing the New Zealand coastline with breathtaking realism.
Payne’s work seamlessly blends the vivid realism of nature with an exploration of the emotional and atmospheric qualities that define our experience of the natural world, directing our attention to the delicate features of our vast and varied coastlines while emphasising the elements to bring those details to the forefront of our minds. For Payne, the aim of his practice is not simply to replicate what is in front of him, but to capture the essence of the subject – be it an emotion, a fleeting moment, or the unique interplay of light and shadow. He is deeply fascinated by how colour, light, and form interact in such a way that they can almost be understood as a visual code, where each brushstroke plays a role in unlocking the underlying beauty of a scene. He says, “The aim for me is to capture the essence of what it is I’m painting. It can be an emotion, a feeling, or a mood. I am fascinated by how an image is just tiny bits of colour joined or linked together like some sort of code. I love to explore the relationships between colour, light, and form and how these elements are seen by the eye when they are put together.”