Matthew ryan herget
Portrait by James Law, 2019
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Portrait by Jeff Schu, 2019
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bio, 2020
Matthew Ryan Herget (b. 1990, Miami, FL) is a lifelong, self-directed artist, with a focus on abstract oil painting. Fueled by a love of life, exploration, and discovery - Herget’s work is expressed in energetic mixed media paintings, photography, experience, digital works, sculpture, and poetry.
Herget has displayed 5 solo exhibitions in the United States. His work has been shown in art galleries in Miami, Tampa, New York, San Francisco, Long Beach, Seattle, Dallas, and Los Angeles. He has contributed to group exhibitions in The Long Beach Museum of Art, CONTEXT and SCOPE New York, and numerous Miami Art Week fairs.
Herget’s paintings are the amassed journeys of many layers of spirited, adventurous, and experimental paint application. In Herget’s practice : palette knives, fingers, brushes, spray paint, computers, collage, power sanders - whatever is necessary to unfold the painting - is fair play. Each painting develops into a sort of sculptural excavation site - where the action of removing layers of paint, is just as integral to the painting process - as applying it. Paintings grow and evolve over time, and it can often take years for one painting to be considered complete. For Herget, something needs to come out - and it is his responsibility to listen, be brave, and to facilitate the unfoldment of that taking place.
Herget is widely recognized for his painting series : The Explorers. Herget builds up and breaks down many layers of expressive oil painting, to create timeless beings floating in space. Each painting is made from the feeling of being an explorer and serves as a mirror into the depths of the human spirit.
His recent paintings are visionary adventures into transcendental experience. Whispy, flowing, and ever-changing - yet, grounded in depth - these paintings are influenced by growing relationships with shamanic techniques for exploring consciousness. By rooting himself into the timeless forces of nature, Herget pushes the limits of contemporary art making. He is interested in art as a vehicle for transformation, healing, and understanding. And for the potential of art to serve as a unifying force in the modern world - to bridge deeper communication with the spirit of humanity.
Herget’s work is collected by passionate art lovers around the world. His studio is currently in Miami, FL.
manifesto, 2019
My work is deeply influenced by explorations into life, nature, and consciousness.
I hope my work can be like the electricity that separates fleshy feet from warm grass. Like a spine of lightning connecting to pirate seas.
Alas! I am Human. Human Being.
Of the beat of Shaman drums, on a mountain river, I run.
I Am. From a listening heart. Open to all my Eyes.
We are here for connection and we are connection. How can I help show that? Help unfold that.
I am here as Flow. I am here to Change. I am here to Grow.
The palpability of smoke dancing through God Space. Morning dew on butterfly wings drying with gold Sun.
I am all the Brothers and Sisters. From grasslands, to ocean basins, and back again.
Dinosaur Bone Marrow Pharaoh.
The Sound of Nothing. The Color of Invisible.
The crackle-snap of fired wood, under ancient desert stars. They-Are-Me.
Devotion, Ceremony, Ritual disguised as Art-Making.
I believe in Art like I believe in Love. Like I believe in bees, like I believe in hugs. Like I believe in Good Earth Drugs.
A billion, plus - years of old trees, growing. Way before Great Prophets and way-after.
The Treasure right behind our nose. Naked even with clothes.
Works of Art can be Great Talismans. Directed energy with the intention of birthing a Transcendent Object is what I’m after.
I am trekking through a deep cave in the Jungle of Mind, perched upon the shoulders of Titans. Heart in chest. Axe in hand. I roam The Wild.
Human artifacts that embody Spirit. Things that breathe; things that remind me to breathe.
Soul Manifest, from the blooming rose in my chest.
A humble Son of The Universe playing as The Universe, hoping to give birth to more Universe. No bigger than The Mouse; no smaller than The Mountain. I rest in Every Shadow.
The Sacred Flotsam and Jetsam of A Dreaming Star-Dust Monkey. A Warrior for Light. A Creator of Good.
I hope to summon Heaven within me, all that I am, all-there-ever-was, and allow that to express through my hands.
Slow-Art grown from the rise and fall of many bright moons, whose home is in the Now. For the Love of The Game. For The Sake of The Universe.
Samsaric Rhythms of Understanding, from the point-of-view of an Evolving Ape, with access to The Internet, and The Fire in his Heart.
Thank you for this day.
forever artist, 2020, Matthew RYan Herget
that was me, 2020, matthew ryan herget
Los Angeles Studio, 2019, Photo by Jeff Schu
A Message to artists, 1990, terence mckenna
“The Artist’s task is to save the Soul of mankind; and anything less is a dithering while Rome burns.
Because if the Artists, who are self-selected, for being able to journey into the Other, if the artists cannot find the way, then the way cannot be found.”
Because if the Artists, who are self-selected, for being able to journey into the Other, if the artists cannot find the way, then the way cannot be found.”