1981–
You can spot the Matt Beyrer paintings in a gallery or at an art fair from a thousand feet away. They are the astounding works that turn a modest plank of wood into a fantastic world of color and imagination. The beating heart of a Beyrer painting is the rhythm of the wood grain, which Beyrer deftly incorporates into every dramatic landscape, his signature use of nature’s patterns to convey the energy of the universe around us.
Take the example of Moonlight Sonata, one of his most celebrated works. With the skill of a great illustrator, Beyrer centers the glowing white crescent of the moon in a sweeping view of a rural landscape. You can almost hear the rippling strains of Beethoven’s most famous piano work. The artist permits the pulsating waves of the wood grain to fill the night sky with their energy, a move that recalls the powerful electromagnetic forces in one of the most famous masterpieces in the history of art, Vincent Van Gogh’s iconic Starry Night.
READ MORE +Now a star of the Park West stable, with an international following of collectors after a streak of 12 straight sold-out auctions, Beyrer’s successful career had a memorable beginning. The Florida native (born in 1981 in Winter Park) was surfing on the east coast when he saw a dark shadow under his board a moment before a wave knocked him off it. The next thing he knew he felt a sharp pain in his foot, and woke up later in a hospital bed, having been bitten by an eight-foot-long hammerhead shark. During his weeks of recovery, he binge-watched the calming instructional TV shows by Bob Ross, whose infectious love of the pleasures of painting inspired him to take up the brushes. To bring his techniques to a professional level, Beyrer added a degree in illustration from the Ringling College of Art and Design, which accounts for the compelling realism of his landscapes, which have a perspectival depth that only an accomplished painter could manage.
“Sail into the Horizon” (2017), Matt Beyrer
Every artist lays claim to an original style or technique. By marrying the patterns of nature in the wood grain to a firm realism, Beyrer created a style that draws on traditional techniques of perspective and draftsmanship and adds his own particular devices.
Beyrer recalls how he began to include wood grain patterns in his work saying it was, a “happy accident” worthy of Bob Ross’s philosophy of painting. While building frames, he ran out of wood stain. He decided to improvise by thinning some oil paint but when he applied it, he was struck by the beauty of the grain that showed through. “A light bulb went off,” Beyrer says. “I realized I should incorporate the natural wood grain into the painting itself rather than painting over the wood grain.”
“Midnight Rider” (2017), Matt Beyrer
This respect for the abstract patterns that nature gave him is reflected in his choices of subject matter: spectacular sunsets, the power of a thunderstorm or the gentle light of the moon. Steeped in the art of the Old Masters such as Eugène Delacroix, Edgar Degas, Rembrandt van Rijn as well as the art of his most obvious predecessors, the Hudson River School artists like Thomas Cole, Frederick Church and Albert Bierstadt Beyrer also shares a flair for the dramatic that is seen in the sky in the background of Edvard Munch’s famous painting, The Scream. He also points to the contemporary influences of illustrator Jaime Jones, concept artist Brandon Liao and Drew Struzan, the creator of “Star Wars,” “Harry Potter” and “Indiana Jones” movie posters.
“Wish You Were Here” (2017), Matt Beyrer
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