"It's not so crazy, you know..." he says. "Elias Canetti's mother packed him off to study in Germany during the rise of fascism so that he might have a 'broader education. I am already planning the next several series that will keep me busy for years - so all of this is just research."
Matthew Quick began painting as a teenager, before becoming one of the University of South Australia's youngest students. Upon graduation, he joined Emery Studio in Melbourne, designing for major Australian corporations such as Rio Tinto, Foster’s and BHP. After a prosperous career in design and advertising and publishing a number of fiction titles, Quick returned to painting at age 35.
A narrative realist, Quick tells stories and makes quirky observations of the world around us. With the combination of title and image, deeper meanings emerge, triggering the unfolding of chapters in an endless array of stories the viewer is invited to create.Matthew always painted but managed to distract himself with a few alternative careers. He’s worked as a designer, art-director, lecturer & writer, with his first novel short-listed for the Vogel Literature Award. He’s lived in Australia, Europe and Asia, including several months encamped beneath a grand piano. He’s spent nights under stars in India, under-ground in Bolivia, under surveillance in Burma and under-nourished in London.His scariest moment was having machine-gun shoved in his face during Nepalese anti-monarchy riots, although crashing a paraglider into a forest was also something of a highlight.
"It's not so crazy, you know..." he says. "Elias Canetti's mother packed him off to study in Germany during the rise of fascism so that he might have a 'broader education. I am already planning the next several series that will keep me busy for years - so all of this is just research."
For the second consecutive year Matthew has recently featured in the top most collectable artists, and was named in Business Review Weekly as one of Australia’s top 50 artists. A selection of his work was recently acquired by Australia’s most significant collector, arts patron and founder of White Rabbit Gallery, Judith Neilson, for her permanent collection. Matthew’s paintings have been used as CD covers in Australia, Greece and the US, and as book covers by Penguin Books & Era Publications. His work has been reproduced in many magazines, books and journals including Hi Fructose, Plastik, Juxtapoz, Empty, Colossal, Design Taxi, Communication Arts, Idea, Design World, Graphis & Novum.
Over the last few years he has either won, or been selected as a finalist for, more than 70 major national art awards, including the Sulman Art Prize, the Arthur Guy Memorial Painting Prize, the Mosman Art Prize, the Shirley Hannan Portrait Prize, the Glover Prize, the Redland Art Award, the Paddington Art Prize, the City of Albany Art Prize, the Fisher's Ghost Art prize, the Blake Prize Director’s Cut, the Black Swan Prize for Portraiture, the Townsville Open Art Award, the Duke Art Prize, the John Leslie Art prize, the Churchie and the Prometheus. He also writes fiction: his first novel was short-listed for the Vogel Literary Award.