Carlos Mateu is the first artist featured in a new artist spotlight series sponsored by Reimagined BK, the Prospect Heights-based boutique vintage clothing store. Launched on Feb. 21, this new bi-weekly series will showcase the work of various fine artists and musicians, starting with Mateu.
On the evening of Feb. 21, Reimagined BK previewed Mateu’s “Angles in Harmony” exhibition. The next day, Feb. 22, the store hosted a “Community Art Day” to encourage people to engage with Mateu’s work and give them the chance to talk with him about his art.
“I decided to call it ‘Angles in Harmony’ because that is more related to my style,” Mateu told the AmNews as he talked about his works on display. “I have a very kind of specific style that I define as pop geometric: I use a lot of straight lines for the drawing, and then the painting is responding to the drawing. All the shapes are in separate layers and straight lines, and they are responding to the drawings. It’s related to pop art, but we’re bringing a higher level of volume — it’s closer to realism.”
The Reimagined BK exhibit features eight of Mateu’s paintings alongside small paintings he likes to make on the horseshoe crab shells he finds. Prints from the artists’ portfolio are also available.
In addition to his visual art, Mateu is also a poet, dancer, and performer. That is why, he said, he titled the show “Angles in Harmony” — the words “angle” and “harmony” echo terminologies used in the worlds of dance and music; referencing them is a way of combining his artistic vision.
Most of the pieces on display show how Mateu uses symbolism to represent his personal experiences. He said he makes art as a means of self-expression — a way of sharing his experiences.
“My work is very surrealistic. I’m bringing all different cultures, and blending them, in my art. The main essence in my work is that we’re all connected, and I develop my theme based on experiences that I have.
“For example, I was doing a portrait of a falcon for a friend of mine who lives in Miami. Then, at the same time, I was flying to Michigan. A falcon was flying and staying next to my window on the airplane., and this was as I was reading ‘The Alchemist’ [by Paulo Coelho]. It was describing the war in the desert because two falcons were in the air … That’s the way I create my art: I see the connection between all these things, and then I look for the meaning.
“What is the meaning of the falcon when it appears in your life? Normally, it is in the spiritual way; normally, it is in your dreams, but to me, it is in real life. I turned that into art. And then, based on that, what is the falcon related to –– what culture? The falcon can take me to the Middle East, it can take me to Egypt, it can take me to many different directions.
“I ended up turning to Egypt. I got into that culture, and I developed my piece on this experience with the falcon and the meaning of it appearing in my life. That’s the general way that I work, how I work: I’m bringing animals, I’m bringing tradition from different cultures, and all of this is blended into a fantasy world.”
Carlos Mateu’s “Angles in Harmony” is on view at Reimagined BK (708 Franklin Avenue in Brooklyn; reimaginedbk.com) through March 6. More of Mateu’s work can be seen at his website: https://carlosmateu.wixsite.com/visualart.