Matt Palmer

Australian based Matt Palmer paints from a nostalgic distance. Palmer describes his relationship with the landscape as one of being “constantly drawn back to its dream-like qualities and emotional resonance. It is this subconscious, silent conversation that I find myself always drawn back into.” In a meditative mode of working Palmer searches for imagery that simultaneously reminds him of his childhood and the history of the painting genre, setting out to identify that place in his imagination that falls somewhere between desire and reality, a construction of intimate experiences and highly personalised landscapes.

Palmer’s father is the well-known New Zealand landscape painter Stanley Palmer and a large influence on the artist growing up. Matt was brought up experiencing image making in multiple mediums and from many different angles, exploring its far reaches as he went on his father’s frequent painting excursions. Palmer’s creative upbringing lead him to Elam School of Art where he was taught and a further inspired by Denys Watkins.