Matthew Ma-Art Portfolio

MATTHEW MA Art Portfolio

TO A BOY WHO FERVENTLY ENJOYS HIS LIFE

Matthew, you are a child enriched by ample reading, comprehensive knowledge, and a strong desire of self-expression, such traits coupled with your spacious soul and tender emotion enable you to communicate with others via drawings.

As the second language of humans, drawings can sometimes rather clearly and wholly express our minds. It could be a long journey for one’s first impression to the objective world to evolved into the forming of inner world in a certain stage. With a strong desire for knowledge, you began learning drawing at the age of 4, since then you’ve had experi ences of drawing in themes like mechanics, animals, matchmen, outer space and history. Your drawings always feature liveliness, spectacles and possibilities of imaginations, such an obsession with drawing explains your tirelessness.

It is my wish for you, who take drawing as a way of life, to continuously farm in the green fields of drawing, while gaining more knowledge from reading and experiencing the world, and have a happy, fruitful childhood.

Mr. Xinyi, Founder of DuoShang Gallery

MATTHEW MA

Artist of the future

ABOUT ME

I like drawing because it always cheers me up. The drawings by those famous paint ers usually tend to lack in details, but that’s what my focuses are. People would say “Look, here is a toilet, besides it is a corridor, where there is a person standing, hold ing a bag, and there is a chair beside” when looking at my drawings, such details would keep them browsing and entertained. Matchmen is one of my favorite subjects, as those bigger figures have already been used by other painters, and nobody is taking an interest in portrait-painting for ordinary people, which is considered worth less, but that’s not how think, how boring and mundane would it be if every portrait are made for great figures like Edison, Newton and Mao Zedong? There are 7.6 billion people on this planet who haven’t been portrayed, why no painter is taking an inter est in them? Even if we don’t know exactly how they look like, we should at least have a rough idea on their characteristics. Drawing is essentially a type of diary, or a simple, convenient way to record things. remember during my stay in Yunnan, we used to go swimming in river, climbing mountains, hiking and boating, all the fun stuff in the wild, and at night when adults fell asleep, we kids would share with each other what we did in the day, the other kids would write stuff down, but I always raised my drawings high when my turn came.

UNFOLDING AN INTERESTING WORLD:

MATTHEW’S AMAZING JOURNEY OF DRAWING

It has been more than four years since Matthew was so fortunate to be mentored by Mr. Xinyi from Duoshang Gallery at the age of four, during this period Matthew took Zhu’s drawing class once or twice a week, never daunted by windy or rainy weather, in each class he would sit there for two hours without a word of grumble, more amazingly, even when he felt unhap py or tired, he had never yelled in anxiety, instead, he often found himself immersed in the world of drawing, as if drawing had become a fertile land for his young spirit to grow.

At his age five, our whole family went for a hike on Huangshan, and when the night set in, we mounted on a cliff to enjoy the spectacle of sunset, no sooner did we sat down than Matthew shouted “Grab my brush! I’m gonna draw this sunset!” That charisma still echos in our mind today

Ever since then, wherever he went, he would always bring brush and paper with him, the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francis co, the bustling streets of Las Vegas, the imposing Fujiyama, the mystery of sky and ocean, the discoveries of science and technology, and significant events in history have all become the subjects of his art creations, even when going to restau rants he would also borrow a pen from waitress to draw a colorful world on a tiny piece of tissue, no matter what fracas the environment has, his mind is never disturbed.

At his age six, we went to Yunnan with several other families on an wild-exploratory adventure, which comprised a twen ty-kilometers on-foot hiking in the primeval forest there, with intense and risky activities like river-tracing, cliff-climbing, brake-down, and kayak, while those wore out the adults everyday, kids had to gather to share feelings at night, Matthew always spoke lastly for being the youngest kid, but he was always raising a paper of his drawing in his turn, which was riddled with all the experiences of his classmates, just like an intricate archive that contains the simplest joys that only kids can fathom, that’s the very happiness Matthew created himself.

More memorably, we were in such a hurry on our way to Guilin airport, having to dart in the airport with all the heavy luggage, barely caught the return flight back to Beijing in the last minutes, while we were still feeling unsettled in our seats, Matthew made a drawing in excitement which depicts our frantic moments vividly, we felt so relaxed at that moment upon realizing not only that our little kid was sharing our anxiety and triumph, but also the true love he has for drawing, this has got to be his best way of observing and depicting the world.

At his age seven, Matthew took part in a wildlife protection program in Africa, it was in the vast African pasture that he had hisfirst close contact with endangered animals such as lions, buffaloes, zebras, and hyenas, as well as the first time to communicate with the impoverished Maasai race, Matthew’s drawing style dramatically changed after his return, the themes of his worksbecame more grand, such as wildlife protection, environmental pollution, global warming, nuclear warfare and anti-terrorism operations, quoting his words to me: There are so many things that are beyond my ability to achieve in reality, but they can be achieved in my drawings.

At his age eight, Matthew became interested in gaming and artificial intelligence development, and his drawings started to feature matchmen as protagonist, depicting not only spectacular scenes like legions in march, but also lively details of those most ordinary characters, his intense and engrossing plots always praise the courage necessary for justice to prevail over evil, when I asked him about the reason for creating these trypophobia-inducing matchmen, Matthew blurted out: hope to be different from those other renowned painters, all they care for is great figures like Edison and Einstein, but there are billions of those ordinary characters, each of them is just like a matchstick which is just as important.

Over time of accumulation, drawing has become an integral part of Matthew’s daily life, enabled him with a precious ability, focusing, he often finds himself fixated at and immersed in the world that opened for his imaginations, and he yearns to break the impossibilities in reality with his childish imaginative thinking and emotions.

The famous psychologist Adler once said, humans were born to face immense threats from an unknown world, but the meaning of growth is to constantly surpass themselves.

I remember it was at his age three, his seventy-years old grandma had a joint replacement surgery and was having difficul ties walking back home, Matthew often helped his grandma up and down stairs with his little hands raised, it was probably since then he often found his sitting in a corner, with his eyes rimmed with tears for those touching scenes in movies and TV shows, but through art creations, Matthew is gaining the strength to communicate with the world on an equal basis, and to construct the grand battlefield inside him with brightness and love, that’s why his personality is so optimistic, confident, calm and inclusive.

There was a night in March 2019 when Matthew asked me just before sleeping, “Dad, who do you love the most?” I answered “I love your mom the most, and you?” He said without any hesitation “I love myself the most! Because only in this way can I control myself well and grow up in the way I prefer” I gave him acknowledgement and told him, “My boy, you should learn to love yourself before eighteen, after that you need to learn to love the other people.”

Marcus Aurelius once said, our lives are built upon our thinking. The concentration and love for drawing unfold an interesting world for Matthew’ s life.

Dad, Ma Suge March 26th 2019, Beijing

THE MASTERPIECE OF ART

SUPREME ART

The Masterpiece of Art: ’m a boy with many grotesque ideas, I can see the smallest details that have never drawn your attentions, and turn them into drawings. Pay attention to them, you will find many mini-surprises that left you secretly. Just like a time machine, these artworks will take you to the time immemorial, such as the dinosaur age, where you can enjoy the landscape and touch those giant creatures, then we will go explore the grave of First Emper or of Qin, the mystery of such a great king who united the six realms has never been fully unraveled despite the discovery of his tomb, assume such a majestic royal grave must be as awesome as his palace during his reign, do you feel the plush in the royal grave I drew? Then we will go to the battle fields in ancient times, the combats leveraging ancient weapons and modern equipments will keep you riveted. Following a goodbye to ancient times, let's head to the future. I like robots, and I'd ride on the robot designed myself to beat the villains. I like the universe, I'd take on a spaceshuttle rushing into the infinite outer space, to discover and bring the resources in the universe back to earth, as well as to engage with aliens, if we encounter the hostile ones, we will just blow them away with advanced weapons. LOL! Feel free to admire me, because I will become a big hero. With the consumption to resources on Earth and the devastation humans caused to the environment, it occurs to me that maritime species' existence might also be affected by these factors in the future, so must save them and save the Earth! This planet belongs to all creatures, not only to humans. Touched by my thoughts already? It's not the time to marvel yet, let's board the time machine to go to the construction site of Egyptian Pyramid, which was built jointly by Egyptians and aliens, it's my speculation that aliens must have visited the Earth and were worshipped as gods by the people for posessing omnipotent and transcendent intelligence and technology, and being supportive for Egyptians to have established an ever-lasting civilization. From my point of view, each artwork of mine bears a fantacy I had in a certain period, but I must thank Mr Zhu as my art teach for diligently helping me express my ideas via drawings, making my fantacies tangible, his devotion and acknowledgement have propelled me to advance, and I will work harder towards further, greater achievements in my dreams.

<Ocean Savior Project>

<Ocean Savior Project> Human’ s unre strained exploitation on the resources of the Earth has led to severe devastation of oceanic environment, with seabeds littered with junks, the livelihoods of mari time creatures are heavily impacted, lead ing to the extinction of many species, finally will lead a scientific team to end this disaster, but we need strength from more partners, will you join us?

This artwork was selected by the Global Teenager Artwork Exhibition organized by The French Ministry of Culture

<Demon Slayer> Can you imagine an armed-to-teeth warrior fighting various mon sters in his high-tech armor? Beneath the solid shield is a tiny controller chip, the monsters’ bodies look fragile but they fight in a tireless manner, who will eventual ly be the last standing one of this battle?

<Outerspace Gold-panning> The day finally came when a Chinese outerspace gold-panning team discovered a planet with ample goldmines in the infinite universe, with sophisticated mining equipment, they started to extract the gold on that planet, shipping a substantial amount of golds back to the Earth to add to people’s wealth, they encounters hostile forces from other planets from time to time, but that ’s nothing to worry, our mighty battleships will give them a lesson.

<Defending the Ores on Earth> You might wake up one day and find an alien standing right besides your bed, don’t think of them as friendly visitors, they came here to ransack our mines on the Earth! What should we do? Driv ing them out of our home of course.

March , 2016

Watercolor /

<Mysterious Arsenal> Weaponry are used as the sword to defend a nation and regarded as an integral part of many countries, but deep down below the sea, there is an almighty god of destruction who also serves as the guardian of our lives, hopefully the world always stay in peace.

<Robotic Prison> It’s known as the most unbreakable prison in the world, holding the most vicious criminals from all countries, but who would have expected one day a group of prisoners found their way to break their cells and attempt to escape? A fierce battle took place between the sentries and these malevolent thugs.

<A World of Dinosaurs> The peace in the dinosaur’s realm was broken by a group of unwelcome trespassers, humans attempted to capture dinosaur with modern weapons, but these giants wont’ just succumb to force, a nightmare awaits these people.

<Bounty-hunting Undersea>

Undersea> The myriad of treasures hidden under the dark, unknown ocean have been a mystery for thousands of years, now at last we get to take on sophisticated vessel to reach the bottom of the sea that’s never been visited by human, but it’s not just the treasure-filled sunk ships that awaits our teammates, but also many unseen mon strous inhabitants.

<Naval Battle> On a battleship loaded with advanced weapons, a group of aggressors are trying to invade the technologically underdeveloped forest tribes, instead of an easy conquest that they expected with their superior equip ment, they were met with a fierce resis tance, I believe the victory will eventu ally favor the righteous side, fight and win the forest tribes!

<Navigating the Emperor’s Grave> The discovery of the first emperor of Qin’ s grave has awed the world, but no one really knows how majestic it is, this is what it looks like in my imaginations, consisting of numerous underground palaces and accompanying treasures, as well as countless lethal traps to prevent graverobbery, presumably the emperor preferred not to be disturbed by the outer world.

INTHEPROCESSOF

The Growth of Art: Matthew’s mind is filled with the curiosity towards the universe, technology, war and history, coupled with his unbridled imaginations, under the guidance of Mr. Zhu, his imaginations and painting techniques were both improved. Matthew’s artworks are always majestic and well-organized, featuring smooth and firm lines. For instance: A working plumbing machine could look more solid and potent with the addition of a few darkened lines, the light and bright colors indicate his expressive mind, and the scenes are often dominated by light blue, purple and yellow, emanating with warmth and agility, thoroughly depicting things in detail. Through these drawings the attri butes like confidence, activeness and optimism of Matthew’s personality are shown, possessing a level of self-consciousness that comprises cognition and thinking, as well as his curiosity and exploratory spirit towards unknown things, which can all be distinctively perceived from Matthew’s drawings, such as undersea exploration for oil, Indian tribes, dancing with rhinos, Captain America, etc. It’s so precious of him to have recorded the journey of explora tion with his brush and his never-give-up spirit.

It’s such a hectic season

An oil extraction fleet is sailing in the distance

The planes and space shuttles are all occupied with work on the horizon

Some are transporting supplies

Some are diving deeply into the sea for explorations Look!

A huge chasm just emerged in the seabed crust

Where people can extract a lot of resources

Even the fishes are reveling in celebration

A beautiful rainbow arches in the blue sky

Finally we get to dance on the rhino’s back Go!

But the other scene is dramatically different

A formidable rhino is standing imposingly There is a guy tormenting the enemy on the tree Is that an interrogation?

The rhino rider is scanning around for hostile movements with a gun

Another guy poised with a bow, ready to shoot What’s about to happen?

Once upon a time rode on a horse with my dad in suburbs

Accidentally, we barged into the primitive men’s tribes And it happened to be the inauguration ceremony of their new leader

Which requires snakes and humans to be sacrificed alive

Which was so brutal and terrifying At the moment I turn around looking for my dad I woke up from the bad dream

Every time see this painting

It reminds me of Vincent van Gogh’s artwork The Sower Despite the huge differences The impressiveness and the use of color Show a lot in common

Fighter jets, freight trucks, sports cars

The operating construction site in the distance

Captain America, human’s savior

What a colorful world!

The livelihood, the ambition, the vision

Hopefully the world peace is always maintained for a good living environment

OF

INTHEPROCESSOF

Art in Rudimentary Stage: Matthew’s love for painting can be seen from even the tiniest details, with merely a pen and a piece of paper, he can create an utopia of his own. From the first stroke that merges color into paper, sky, clouds, rivers, mountains began to emerge in the blankness, just like sunlight piercing through the gauze of mists at dawn, invigorating this world with liveli ness. This reminds me of the words of Wu Guanzhong, the renowned master painter, that paintings represent a conception of ease and elegance that’ s composed of dots, lines and facets, which can all be found in Matthew’ s artworks, in such a orderly and casual way, he depicts things such as crea tures in the ocean, a swarm of ants carrying foods, crowds seething in activi ties, kids having fun in playgrounds, how the mechanics work in construction sites, highly modernized robotics, cranes in operation, planes in the sky, rotat ing helicopter propellers, upright towers, gardening machines in grass, fero cious land and naval wars, the peace well-beings of the world, etc. These are all Matthew’s diaries in the form of paintings, recording the experiences and ideas he gained from life, welcome to Matthew’s colorful world!

CERAMIC ART

Ceramic art is one of my favorite classes, enabling me to experience the beauty of art and the joy gained from making an artwork by my own hands. It’s just like a breeze in spring that blows away the chilliness of winter and brings the fragrance of dirt and earth that have been scoured by spring rains. I get to have the intimacy to the nature while learning the culture of ceramic art, and animate the lifeless dirt with a soul, turning it into my favorite tanks, yachts, and cranes, eventually every negligible piece of dirt are made into an exquisite ceramic artwork. These small items are infused with too much joy and accomplishments of mine, regard them as the container and recorder of my childhood memories.