The work presented for my final MCAD Thesis Exhibition is a culmination of 18x24 to 11x13 inch acrylic works specifically completed from August of 2023 until May of 2025. My quintessentially active paintings are on both cotton canvases and wood panels, the latter of which I’ve devoted much more attention to in my final semester. At times I have engaged with minor uses of paper textile in my completed works.Throughout my undergraduate and graduate experiences, I have utilised acrylic pigments heavily diluted with Gel Retarder medium as it is a key part of my methodology. I’ve enthusiastically used diluted pigment as it aids in making my colour-rich underpainting and my ink linework much more prominent in the overall experience of the work. When I am in the studio, I incorporate rich-brushstroke abstraction in my underpainting, then proceed to draw my composition freehand with an India Ink marker. The finished product is something which is hyper-active, unnerving and dizzyingly maximalist upon a cold reading.My current painting practice is heavily influenced by the act of walking. I love to walk through a built-up, cosy settlement without any plan in mind, experiencing the noise, urban chaos and joy of existing in the city. This act is much akin to the Dérive philosophy of Guy Debord. My own very unplanned walking practice has led me to focus my artistic attention on dilapidated and incredibly aged structures, which I then photograph as the first step of my process. It is unplanned yet ritualistic in some capacity, as I occasionally venture outside with my camera in hand, looking for inspiration for upcoming work. I feel that spaces tied to a physical location provide me with an innate, indescribable enthusiasm among what is sociologically understood as the contemporary commodity. Something which is so soulless in contrast to the energy I experience around bold text and banal advertising of a previous time.The work I’ve created is meant to be engaged with in a unique manner; I include minute yet familiar details such as text, symbols and illustrations which require the viewer to shift their cone of vision much closer to the specific piece. The viewing experience simply is playful and inviting among such a sensory overload on the wall.Website: https://matthewclara.com/Instagram: @matthewclaraartist Categories MFA Thesis 2025 Published on April 28, 2025