Get to know the artists: Melinda Matyas

We know that our discerning customers love fine food and travel as well as art, so we asked our artists to share some thoughts with us. Here is the second in our series:Melinda Matyas

If you could own one work of art,from any time in history, money no object what would it be and why?

I’m rarely struck by an artwork... Though a few years ago I saw the exhibition titled “Facing the Modern: The Portrait in Vienna 1900” at the National Gallery in London and one of Egon Schiele’s paintings took my breath away. It was the unfinished ‘Portrait of Albert Paris von Gutersloh’, I was looking at it and wasn’t able to move, I felt every little inch of the painting was full of emotion. I don’t know how long I stared at it, completely lost sense of time. Because of that experience that’s the artwork I’d choose.

Describe your favoure meal.

I’m not a big fan of fancy meals. I’d rather prefer simple dishes which might not be rich in flavour, like grilled salmon on a bed of vegetables. This might sound boring, but I like the idea of: ‘the less flavor, the more individual flavor’.

If you could live anywhere else in the country, the world, the universe, where would that be and why?

I can easily start on daydreaming about that and back to nature would be my slogan! But a more down to earth answer is: I would happily live in a small seaside town in Cornwall, or Tuscany, or Provence…

Melinda received her BA in Painting from the University of Fine Art Cluj, Romania and is now based in London. Her work is exhibited widely across Europe and in the United States.

Co-director Ian Hay and I have been fans of Melinda's work for some time now, in fact she exhibited in our very first exhibition 'ONE' when we opened Saul Hay Gallery in October 2016.

Melinda’s work is a reflection on society and the continuously changing identity generated by that. In her paintings she weaves together personal and collective memories to address the 21st century human being. Her creative process is based on the exploration of colour and the fragmentation of the form creating dynamism and movement in her work.

Frida As A Knight, oil on canvas (below) is part of our current figurative exhibition 'Being Allowed to Look'. I love the vibrancy and energy in the brush strokes and colour pallette. Find out more and see more beautiful paintings by Melinda at https://www.saulhayfineart.co.uk/melinda-matyas The exhibition runs until 16th September. All the work exhibited is for sale through Saul Hay Gallery.

Melinda Matyas, Frida As A Knight, oil on canvas