Matthew Gonzales was born in Embudo, New Mexico, and lived most of his early life in Arizona and Northern New Mexico. Matthew always wanted to be an artist. From boyhood on, he was always drawing.

“Drawing is the beginning of all art.
The beauty of the human form awes me.
I cannot imagine a more perfect design.”

In high school, the art classroom was where he could be found, exploring painting, pottery, and jewelry-making, among other subjects in art. Upon graduating high school, he moved to Denver to study at the Colorado Institute of Art where he earned his degree in Illustration, graduating at the top of his class with the best portfolio award. Subsequent to graduation, he worked as an illustrator for ten years, doing fashion figure, medical, and figure illustration for advertising.

But Matthew’s heart was always in fine art. He explored many mediums and has found his niche in sculpture.

“The art that I create reminds me how beautiful and wonderful life is.
I do not try to create an ideal or copy with mechanical accuracy but to expose the harmonies of form that reveal the body’s perfect design.
I try to capture that one fleeting moment when a person is revealed, when one is overwhelmed with the gladness of being.”

Drawing the human figure has been Matthews’s passion, lovingly expressed in his sculptural work, which harnesses light and shadow in powerful compositions. Matthew works from a live model at least three times a week. With neither a back nor front, his work is meant to be enjoyed from all angles, as he says, “to expose the harmonies of the form that reveal the body’s perfect design”. His sculpture Nurture is a wonderful example of the rhythm and order he presents in his creations.

Matthew’s pieces – whether serene, dynamic, or unsettling – manifest his artistic vision: “to capture that one fleeting moment when a person is revealed, when one is overwhelmed with the experience of being”.

He is most excited when his hands are working the clay. “There is something extraordinary that happens when the hands are working the clay,” he says. Taking the clay to bronze is complex, but Matthew has found the evolution fascinating and enjoys every aspect of the process. He experiments with his own patinas, as is exemplified in his male and female torso vases.

“I believe our moments of greatest joy are associated with some form of beauty, harmony, rhythm, truth, and order.”

Matthew Gonzales, who now resides in Santa Fe, New Mexico, has been a professional artist for more than twenty years, concentrating on fine art bronze figurative sculpture. His paintings, drawings, and sculptures can be found in both galleries and private collections.

Making art is Matthew’s life, and he involves himself in as many aspects as he can, such as public schools arts programs and as a member of the board of the Contemporary Hispanic Market.