Boat Days for the month of February 2022
Sam Mathers creates playful, bold and graphic painted works that re-interpret travels and experiences around New Zealand and the world. With an uplifting simplified style and a sense of humour Mathers invites us into his visual world of boats, everyday objects, road signs and text. Mathers’ works read like diaries, with their images collated and rendered with simplicity, a naïve energy and frankness.
As the artist describes, my work “documents the iconic and instantly recognisable as well as the odd and interesting.” Mathers finds his inspiration in the back-stories and cultural histories of well-known images, media old and new, and the mechanics of how things work. The relatability of his subjects leads his pieces to conjur memory and associations for his viewer, offering a point of connection.
Pictured image: “Psychedelic Boats”, Mixed Media On Board, 1200 x 1500mm, 2020 (cropped)