Paintings by Mathew Cerletty

Matthew Cerletty produces strange and wonderful paintings, some look near enough real, other don’t.

It’s this weird range and variety that attracts me to his work. He was born in 1980, Milwaukee, Wisconsin, USA, but now lives and works in New York.

Cerletty is foremost a portrait painter, with his canvases running from medium size to large size. His subjects are usually from his own age group, or own background, using friends and family members as models.

His works are cool and precise, with a contemporary feeling. I particularly like the way he uses advertising and plays on company brand names.

CB: What about the random catchphrases, like your painting I Love Exercise?

MC: That’s a long story. It’s from when a friend and I got trapped in the subway tunnels in Boston. We were there after hours, and we got locked in the subway, and this strange homeless-looking guy let us out. He was really scary. And at one point he said, “I love exercise.” It was sort of inspired, I thought. So I painted those words.

Matthew did a cool interview, using video and text, over at Interview Magazine – www.interviewmagazine.com

www.mathewcerletty.com

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