Mathieu Karsenti
Mathieu Karsenti is an abstract impressionist collage painter and musical composer. His paintings are inspired by his career in music, representing lyrical abstractions. As a composer, he has conducted musical scores for both television and film and has worked with major broadcasters and studios such as BBC, CBBC, Cbeebies, BBC3, ITV1-2, Channel 4, SYFY, Bravo, Sky1, and for top production companies as well as for UK celebrities. Mathieu's elegant contemporary music remains inspired by J.S Bach, Contemporary Classical, Soul, World music, and Jazz.
The mixed media paintings incorporate watercolor, ink, pencil and collage with a concentration on presenting abstracted forms of imaginative landscapes. Mathieu’s goal remains not to depict real life but instead to reinterpret his psychological impulses into abstractions towards reflections on beauty. These ‘landscapes’ or structures reflect an imagination steeped in the lyrical composure of music and how such a relationship appears in fine art.
Using vast portions of negative space and often disjointed, these imaginative forms portray an integration of mediums into planes of indirect visual consumption. These psychological works communicate emotional impulses regarding our relationships to colors, shapes, form, contrast, and even sound. Mathieu explores the inner realm of his own imagination and how such a place reveals forms taking shape on two-dimensional surfaces. These works advance two-dimensional art towards an increased capacity in regard to new ways of interpreting abstraction through forms resembling a void or abyss. The works cannot be described as non-objective because they are based in lyricism and concepts of environmental landscapes. Instead, the collage paintings reveal how various mediums can advance the interpretation of surfaces through harmonical integration of mediums and a nuanced, delicate color palette.
La Mer après Debussy (pictured above) represents a watercolor, pencil, collage inspired by the symphonic suite ‘La Mer’. The forms are represented in complexities, the varied source of mediums interpret direct impressions of many forms simultaneously existing within negative space. The painting remains a detailed representation of process full of expression, refinement, and executed with great precision.
Mathieu Karsenti represents a sophisticated sense of artistry which integrates the power of music with fine art. His lyrical abstractions, using a variety of complex methods, advance the purpose of surfaces in contemporary art. Without the need to invoke three-dimensional form, either literally or metaphorically, Mathieu creates flat planes which represent dynamic environments waiting for the viewer to explore these intricate realms. He sustains a practice which portrays how different genres of art can influence and indeed enhance image-making by offering a more complex interpretation of form.
