"What fascinates me about painting in a realistic manner is the ability to render environments that might evoke mood states or memories for a viewer. I strive to create a field whereby objects appear to occupy space, possess orientation, have texture, and even temperature. Each chosen subject presents a different challenge to me…a different way with which to understand the items and the environments I’m trying to represent. At a very specific yet always unexpected moment during the painting process, the piece jumps to life and communicates something to me that I don’t get in the same way when I’m looking at the source photograph. For me, the finished painting is far more dynamic and possesses a life of its own.

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Though my work may appear photo-realistic, I do not refer to myself as a member of the genre. I am not committed to reproducing the exact and entire content of a photograph. Instead of painting toward pure objectivity, I look for a middle ground between accurate representation and something more lyrical. I also tend to remove the human figure from my work so the viewer can enter into the space or narrative of the painting by themselves…alone and uninterrupted."  -  Matt Condron