| John Matsushita |
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My primary medium is encaustics. I happened upon encaustics about 15 years ago when I became bored with waiting for my oil painting to dry and started stripping the wax from my surfboard. As I used a hairdryer to melt the wax off I noticed the dirt mixing in and thought I could possibly mix my paints into it. The result was a wax painting. I soon learned that wax has been in known use since 800 BC as a paint medium. After a lot of research and experimentation I came to love encaustics. Other mediums include wood sculpture, stone sculpture, figurative clay sculpture, and mixed media projects. I have been a finish carpenter and project manager for about 13 years and have had the opportunity to work on some highly unique projects blending art and function. Recently I have felt the call to focus in on the art side of my creative spirit and now primarily “work” doing art. I draw much inspiration from the many experiences of living and adventuring in Hawaii. Pursuits such as surfing remote and hidden waves or mountainbiking down the great volcanic mountains of Hawaii island have given me opportunities to explore areas of Hawaii that are not often accessed. It is these unique and treasured moments that I try to capture in my art. This love for Hawaii has been enhanced with world travel and the great honor of continuously meeting people with great hearts, all of which influence my art as well. My degree is a bachelor’s of fine arts from the University of Hawaii at Manoa with study at the Art Institue of Southern California in Laguna Beach. I participated in the VAC’s emerging artists show in the fall of 2010. I also was awarded the honor of doing the Wahi kapu sculpture for the Volcano’s National Park in 2006. In the past, I have received scholarships of merit, won various juried art exhibitions, and I have been awarded private comissions throughout the nation. The show, “Collide”, was done as a collaboration with artist, Anne Catlin, in Kona Hawaii, May and June of 2011. ARTIST’S STATEMENT: My work is an expression of moments. The story of our lives is complex, both beautiful and ragged, wondrous and bewildering, full in every way possible. The moments of our experience, the most intense impacts, whether comfortable or not, are all moments of perfection (Gerald May expresses a similar sentiment in his book The Wisdom of Wilderness). These personally unique and precious moments are what I surrender to, let flow through me, and become their own expression in my art. I love the emotion involved, not just in the moment of impact but also in the experience of the art itself, from creation all the way to another’s interpretation. |
