Spanish painter Matías Sánchez has only one true passion: painting. The act of painting is the foundation of Sánchez’s artistic practice, beyond style, subject, and narrative. The self-taught artist was born to paint. While he learned the craft from his father, his great teachers were works by important Spanish and European painters throughout history that he studied in museums and libraries. He has deep reverence for good paintings, and therefore has great respect for his colleagues, who in one way or another, also devoted themselves to painting.

 For this reason, he has invited friends and colleagues whose work he appreciates for the exhibition at WOAW Gallery. All the artists in the exhibition are about the use of colour, the physicality and sensations of painting. Sánchez works with colours, shapes, and composition until figures and scenery emerge. Cristina Lama and American painter Dan Schein also celebrate this style of impasto painting. French artist Gregory Forstner’s works are deeply rooted in the tradition of painting, shining a light on human nature through his animal figures like a fable. Some paintings tell a story, like Paco Pomet’s precisely rendered painting of a displaced reality. Some paintings celebrate the virtuosity of acting with paint, and sometimes the content takes a back seat, but it is all about painting. Some paintings aren’t even created with a brush and pigment on a canvas, but with needle and thread like Klaas Rommelaere’s tapestries.

Participating Artists: Matías Sánchez, Cristina Lama Ruiz, Klaas Rommelaere, Gregory Forstner, Dan Schein, Paco Pomet

Gallery Address: 9 Queen's Road Central