MARTYMATTHYS
MARTY MATTHYS (1987) is a visual artist from Damme who got his education at LUCA School of Arts in Ghent, there he obtained his Master's degree in Visual Arts in the option Graphics/Illustration. He also is a licensed teacher in the Arts and got his Bachelor’s degree in Visual Occupational Therapy. Since then he has been active as a psychotherapist and a non-verbal therapist - and as a visual artist. He makes figurative and detailed ink and pen drawings on paper.
With his drawings, Marty tries to show a world of hope and melancholy. With symbolism and elements from visual culture and stories passed down through the generations, he tries to tell what was lost in the void between language and reality. With his images, Marty focuses on people who struggle with inner demons, on the search for connection, hope and love. He attempts to show the beauty and strength of vulnerability...
His art not only reflects his own deepest stirrings of the soul. His work is also marked by his role as a counselor and therapist, working with people who are lost in destruction, who no longer have the language to convey what confuses them. His images thus express not only his own world, but also theirs and ours when our voice threatens to fail. He offers us a powerful language where words insufficient, whenever our lives threaten to fall to smithereens.
EXHIBITIONS:
2011 – Staf Versluyscentrum (Bredene)
2016 – ‘Oude Stadsbibliotheek’ Gent Zuid (Gent)
2017 – Exhibition Stadshallen (Damme)
2017 – Galleria Michelangelo Buonarroti (Brugge)
2018 – Expo Cultuurstek (Middelkerke)
2018 – Vrijzinnig Centrum de Sleutelbrug (Brugge)
2019 – Galerij Amnigo (Oostende)
2019 – DE PROFUNDIS, Stadshallen (Damme)
2020 – ‘Buy Local’ Kunsthal (Gent)
2020 – Artist of the Month, Art&Framecenter (Brugge)
2021 – Gallery22 (Damme)
2021 – Galerie Fotoon (Lissewege)
2022 – Expo, Stadshallen (Damme)
2023 – AD ASTRA, Gallery22 (Damme)
2023 – Expo @ Soulville, Soulcenter (Gent)
2024 – Galerie Conscience20 (Antwerpen)
Photo by Amandine Grulois