Vincent Mattina is a brilliant digital art and sculpture artist from Long Beach, California. He has a bachelor’s degree in Illustration & Fine Art, and his day job is as an art director in the garment industry. His artwork focuses on technological and spiritual issues, exploring the overwhelming presence of the digital age and it’s ongoing impact on the fabric of our contemporary lifestyle. His work reproduces familiar visual cues and arranges them into densely symbolic representations. Mattina uses Photoshop along with his photography for digital art collages as well as found object assemblage sculptures of recyclables he gets from garage sales & thrift stores & flea markets.
Mattina incorporates his photography layering each image to evoke a new mythology. Although there may not always be visual similarities between the different series, they are linked by recurring social concerns. The subject matter of each piece determines the colors, textures and the objects used to create it. He is always fascinated with science and technology. Often times themes are combined into a collage of technology juxtaposed with old world imagery, that may be often embellished textural details. The juxtaposition of past and future, establishes a dream-like surreal quality and suggests an other worldly realm out of time & space. Mattina’s personal dream language provides clues to content and visual interpretation.
“In my art I explore the overwhelming presence of the digital age and it’s ongoing impact on the fabric of our contemporary lifestyle. I am concerned with subjects as diverse as biomechanics, spirituality and the ever expanding realm of the N.S.A. my work reproduces familiar visual cues and arranges them into densely symbolic representations. The juxtaposition of past and future, establishes a dream-like surreal quality and suggests an other worldly realm out of time & space.”
Luna SeaGolden Slumbers
Ambiguous LucidityNocturnia
Vincent Mattina’s “Sleepless” Series
Lately Mattina’s work has turned more personal, he uses a C-Pap machine to help him breath at night as he battles sleep apnea. This real-life struggle is what inspired his favorite series “Sleepless,” as well as his “Anatomechanic” series. His latest series called “Sleepless” consists of works “Luna Sea”, “Golden Slumbers” , “Ambiguous Lucidity,” and “Nocturnia” which reflects his personal war on sleep apnea.
Be Yourself, Find Your Vision.
What Mattina enjoys about his art is that it seems to speak to people sometimes differently than he expects, in that they find another meaning than what he intended. He feels that digital art could and should be taken more seriously. Mattina says that for him the lifestyle of an artist can feel a bit isolated, however, he has an amazing wife who grounds him. He truly believes art should be funded as this would allow artists to be able to focus on their work and pursue their dreams. Mattina states what is integral to the work of an artist is that you need to have something to say, not just make pretty pictures. He says that an artist plays many roles in society, the most impelling and important role may be to hold up a mirror to society. Mattina has received many memorable responses to his art such as “Wow,” “Awesome,” “Beautiful,” and “You know it’s a good piece when you want to be inside of it.”
Mattina identifies with styles such as Surrealism, Old Masters, Photography, Cinema, Steampunk, and 3D printing. Artists he’d like to be compared to are Dali, Giger, Roger Dean, and Joseph Cornell. Mattina’s strongest memory of childhood is drawing. He continued to work in more traditional mediums of drawing & painting, changing over time as he found he could work quicker and more efficient utilizing the computer.
Mattina aspires to be able to make art as long as he can and dreams of making a living from it, as he feels compelled to follow this path. The best advice given to him, which he has yet to take, came from his Father: “Work for yourself, have your own business!” Mattina understands the importance of being yourself and finding your vision. His favorite quote, which is also on his business card, is “Art enables us to find ourselves and lose ourselves at the same time.”
Ethereal Beacon 