Matt Beasant

Matt Beasant

Matt Beasant is a Canadian painter. Incorporating elements of lyrical abstraction and surrealism, his work is heavily influenced by his upbringing in the boreal forest of Northwestern Ontario.

Beasant’s work is informed by a fascination of space, time, and memory. It can be described as an inward journey or an exploration of an inner wilderness. Here, no one person may see the same landscape or experience it the same way. Landforms are infused with geometric systems that may act as expressions of human emotion. Geology may resemble biology. Organic nature may appear inorganic and mechanical. Underlying Beasant’s work is an attempt to draw parallels between seemingly disparate areas of understanding and philosophy; between the quantifiable and the qualitative, or the physical and the metaphysical. This duality or juxtaposition extends into the very nature of Beasant’s process where a purely analogue production with paint and brush attempts to convey a digital aesthetic. 

Beasant’s works have been included in several exhibitions across Ontario including a solo exhibition at Coldstream Fine Art, Toronto (2019) and group presentations at the McMichael Canadian Art Collection, Kleinburg, ON (2016,2017); The Artist Project Contemporary Art Fair, Toronto (2016-2018); and the Toronto Outdoor Art Exhibition (2013-2018) among others. His work is held in private and public collections including The Bailey Collection, and The Archives of Ontario.