About
Matthew Pricken
Owner of MDavidGallery
Matthew Pricken is a freelance artist & designer currently living and working in Vermont at his home art studio. Working with a composite of pen/ink & watercolor, his work focuses primarily on realistic renderings inspired largely by his travels around the world & his reverence for the environment. Through his work, Matthew strives to minimize backgrounds or reference materials in order to isolate the subject, focusing on what he finds most important.
As a self taught artist, Matthew has sought to constantly advance and evolve his style by continuously experimenting in new mediums. His first series, dedicated to the history of classical European architecture, relied exclusively on a cross-hatching style using only a ballpoint pen. Changing styles, Matthew began to introduce new shading techniques into his works by incorporating watercolor and relying less on cross-hatching. This style gave his work a noticeably softer and looser feel, while still keeping the signature rigid and defined nature of a pen outline. Over time this adaptation to new medium has lead Matthew to fuse the two styles together. He uses a ball-point pen to create bold and distinct outlines, then using watercolors, softens those boarders until they flow together harmoniously. Currently he is working on an Animal Series that attempts to highlight the natural flow and beauty of watercolors, by focusing heavily on blending and layering to achieve vivid detail.
Matthew’s art has been featured in jury selected shows for Kent CT Art Association Gallery, Richter CT Arts Center, along with online shows at the Colors of Humanity Art Gallery and Igllloo International Art Show. He often participates in outdoor craft shows in CT, NY, VT, and MA, and is currently displaying works at the New England Open Markets and the SoWa market in Boston MA. His work can be found on his website at www.mdavidgallery.com.