Mat Solart

Who I am
I am a Chilean born Australian artist who has worked in the area of graphic design and photographic retouching for more than two decades and who, two years ago(2019), decided to follow my passion (combining photography and painting) that for a long time was latent and that today in day I exercise with passion and enthusiasm. I use professional photographic equipment and Adobe Photoshop software. I have traveled through countries on the continents of Africa (Morocco), Asia (Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia, India), Oceania (Australia, New Zealand), South America (Chile, Peru, Ecuador, Argentina, Brazil), Europe (Spain, Germany, Italy, Czech Republic, England, France) and my camera has always been with me. Although I consider that I take very good photographs, the desire to do something else with them has always accompanied me since, it seems to me, that pure photography is much more of the same and I had the impulse to do something new with my skills, that is, to deliver something new to the world.

My Art

Through my art I want to celebrate diversity and human authenticity. I do it as a way of thanking and honouring traditional characters from countries that have brought beauty to my travels and that of many travellers. It seems to me that these people, with their presence, make the world (and each country) a more beautiful and interesting place. My way of showing my admiration for them is through paintings that seek to generate feelings of joy and amazement in those who come into contact with them. I use shades of color that promote qualities of comfort and well-being. My paintings are generated from a mix between photography and digital painting. My technique is digital painting with photographs, which results in paintings that I qualify as "photo-paintings".

Why I do this.

I create this art because I am interested in sharing my idea that these people enrich the world, they are attractive and genuine. They make places more appealing. They are not yet distorted by the advance of the prevailing modernity that tends to make people uniform. This people still maintain their originality and purity. I am interested in leaving an artistic record with which to praise these people with the idea of generating feelings of wonder in those who come into contact with it and that serves as a tool for people to value more the authentic human diversity away from uniformity and superficiality than generates the advance of modernity. Finally, I do this art because it is a motivating reason to travel the world, discover rich cultures, make a good use of my time-life and to be a contribution to the world.

You can purchase my Original Paintings HERE.