Rick Matear

Melbourne artist Rick Matear loves painting and the atmosphere at the Abbotsford Convent. His door is usually open, where he can be seen making pictures. Rick is renowned for his compelling depictions of the picturesque coastal area of the Mornington Peninsula. His paintings reflect his love of the beach and landscape, where he has spent every summer he can remember. “Painting the beach extends summer as long as possible”, says Rick.

Rick has been exhibiting his works in one-man shows for the past four years at Aegean Designs in Portsea, and before then the past 12 years at Australian Galleries Melbourne and Collins Street Gallery Melbourne and will exhibit his recent work at Aegean Designs in Portsea from 28th January to 18th February 2024.

His latest series of paintings have a chic European sensibility and exotic essence, evoking the mood and atmosphere of the Mediterranean in his scenes of dreamy decadence of the Mornington Peninsula. In his delicate paintings, luminous figures are depicted rising out from rippling waves, sunbathing on gleaming white sand and bathing boxes are pictured pressed against the edge of cliffs, their hard structures disappearing into soft foliage.