Matthieu Charneau's research into origin and time has evolved into a practice that evocatively delves into duration, personal memory, and historical recollection. The conceptual meets the poetic by constructing what almost reads as a family tree.

The artist’s series "That Hidden Shade" examines the concept of time and its portrayal, while a diversity of media enables him to experiment with the sensation of time passing, individual and collective memory, movement, and space.

Charneau’s paintings reflect his interest in free experimentation and spiritual expression. He regards his creative process as an ongoing inner dialogue, with the organic act of creating perhaps more essential than the finished piece. His densely textured abstract works result from a gradual accumulation of lines and drips, aiming to convey the subconscious by using the spiritual and symbolic associations of color.

Matthieu’s work illustrates his exceptional ability to distinguish between colorscapes and distinct images. He seeks solace and meaning in the symbolism of color and abstract form, creating an ambitious, transcendent, and elevated concept of subject matter. While representational forms can be interpreted from his works, they ultimately remain free from earthly narratives.

His spontaneous, intuitive approach to alcohol ink paintings results in abstract forms emphasizing expression. The silence of the background enhances the powerfully simplified and rounded outlines, uniting both into a vigorous and harmonious organic whole. The delicate washes of different colors contrast with the explosive circular forms and gestural drips radiating outward.

The artist describes painting as a form of spiritual awareness, revealing his interest in mysticism, the subconscious, and the cosmos. He expresses extreme emotions through high-keyed, often non-naturalistic colors, producing works that carry emotional tension and, at times, more aggressive imagery.

He also explores the interactions of space, surface, and light through the gestural application of layers of pastel. Its loose structure creates unique optical properties, namely the diffuse light reflections that emanate from their irregular surfaces. These marks contrast with the deliberate, densely pigmented yellow, blue, pink, black, and white strokes. Sometimes, these strokes engage with the underlying source material, which remains visible to varying degrees, thus playing with notions of creation and destruction in a paradoxical homage to the "original." This contemplative experience is one he imparts to the viewer, who is left to ponder the tantalizing mystery beneath the surface.

Charneau integrates elements of broad-mindedness, originality, and affirmation of the expressive potency of pure color and its psychological function into his paintings. Pastel is fundamental to his continued investigations into drawing and painting, allowing him to revisit his compositions more easily than paint. He uses the technique traditionally before applying it radically differently, with multiple types of lines and sharp angles. With his gestural strokes, he emphasizes the frenetic expressivity of the work.

Within the context of his entire body of work, Charneau's paintings focus primarily on expressing feelings and moods rather than reproducing objective reality. His pastels pursue his enduring interest in form and movement, bringing an intuitive form of lyrical expression into the field of abstraction. Radical in their intent, his works are equally profound in their emotional depth and impact.

- Jimi Dams -