Reading Art Association - March 2005 Demonstration

March 2005 Demonstration

The demonstration for March was called "Scale, Detail and Drama" and was presented by Matt Andrade. It was held in Guild Hall of the First Congregational Church of Reading on March 9, 2005.

We have some photographs of the event in case you could not make it there in person. You can click on any of the images on this page to view a larger version of it. Then, use the Back button on your browser to return to this page.

Here is Matt with his demo setup.

He began by discussing his philosophy about art.
He attempts to tell a story with his paintings using
subtle clues. In this painting of an old car in the leaves,
he points out that animals such as woodchucks often make
homes under such things, and he has included this in
the painting. You can see the effect in the lower
center of the painting, under the car's bumper.

In another example, he sketched a drawing of a vase,
which may be barely visible on your monitor. He described
the drawing as "pedestrian" until he added the tiny wasp
to the right of it. At that point, the story was added to the drawing
in a subtle manner. The wasp also adds a sense of scale.

Matt added some details to this painting, which
he planned on calling "Sands of Time". By adding small
details, such as grass at the base of the pillar, he
makes the pillar look large.

After the demo, Matt took some time to discuss his work.
Here you can see one of his more dramatic paintings, called
"Immersion". The cathedral in the painting is immersed in the ocean.

You can learn more about Matt by visiting his web site at www.jerub-baal.com/home.htm

Matt Andrade was born in August 1959. He studied art at Berwick Academy under Illustrator Chas Andres. From 1977 to 1982 he trained in Scenic Arts and Design for Theatre under Richard E. Schreiber, earning a BA in Drama from Northeastern Uniniversity. During that time he worked with everything from the scale of marionettes to grand opera.

In the '80s Matt designed two theater sets for Upside Down Productions of New York, one of which, "Upside Down", was a dramatization of the Book of Acts (shown at the Boston Opera House) and the other, a musical based on the life of King David from Samuel I (done in the arena style at the old Boston Garden). Both were videotaped for national distribution. After that, with a few brief exceptions, artistic endeavors were set aside until recently. Now, after 15 years in the corporate world, Matt has begun to pursue painting seriously. He lives in Malden with his wife and children and shares studio space with his cat, Smidgen.

While planning his demonstration, Matt gave much thought to how his social-commentary paintings would relate to the interests of the Reading Art Association artists and what he could show that would have wide-ranging application. He said, "The one thing that has moved my vision and art forward the most is an understanding of how scale and detail work together to give life and a sense of drama to a painting, which can be used in any medium and subject. My demonstration will begin with examples of my work and discussion of how I conceptualize, research, and put together a painting. We will then proceed to talk about scale and detail, how I use it, and how it can be incorporated in anyone's repertoire, as well as sketching out on paper a number of examples."

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Last updated October 30, 2016