ARTIST SPOTLIGHT: VERA MATIAS

Vera Matias is an emerging originally from Portugal, now residing in a studio within New York City.

While she does incorporate aspects of her unique style in many of her paintings, some are heavily reminiscent of works by late painter Philip Guston. In "Untitled (Guston), we see two arms with masculine, rectilinear hands - one wielding a brush resembling a cigarette, in which both style, subject matter, and symbolism appear to be an ode to Guston. Thick layers of oil, a carefully chosen color palette that is quite complimentary, framed and compartmentalized by stark outlines, further suggests this. Four canvases form one large composition.

Matias’s talent is further showcased in her work Asfalto, in which she appears to have grazed over many layers of paint, as the impasto suggests, in a final cathartic plea. It worked. Through paving over numerous works with a layer of asphalt, Matias creates something that embodies conceptual vigor.

Asfalto is a painting that stands alone, though, if one were to visualize a brutalized Kusama pumpkin, this would be it.

A Casa Prometida, oil on canvas, 2024