Matt Coles
Biography
Born in North Bay, Ontario, Matt Coles experienced the rugged landscape of the Canadian Shield at a young age. He and his father would go on frequent fishing and camping trips, and Matt developed a love for the outdoors that would later form the cornerstone of his artistic expression. Matt is a plein air artist now residing in Huntsville, Ontario. He paints the many beauties of the Canadian landscape with a signature style – contrastive colours with sharp, sometimes wild outlines. In selecting a scene to paint, Matt looks for interesting lighting, shapes, and compositional appeal, but he admits there’s something more at work that draws him in. In addition to painting landscapes, Matt is the Art Director at the Algonquin Art Centre, a world-class gallery and art workshop centre in the middle of Algonquin Provincial Park. This position allows Matt to be at the centre of a burgeoning school of young painters with strong ties both to Algonquin Park and to the Algonquin Art Centre. Matt’s work breathes new life into a long and rich tradition of Canadian landscape painting, as they express the simple, compelling, and perennial passion of artists in the Canadian wilderness.