About

Born December 21st, 1990. Matthew Ryan Herget (MR. Herget) is an emerging self-taught artist from Miami, FL. MR. Herget's work is what he calls, a "constant collaboration" between himself at all points in his life. Often, paintings are layered in sketches and other paintings from his childhood or crayon scribbles that coexist with vivid oil paint in which he has coined "contemporary cave paintings." In his work, MR. Herget constantly strives to embrace the fearless and confident nature of who he was as a child and partner that with the expanding wisdom of who he is becoming as a professional artist. Often, his paintings consist of juxtapositions of visual metaphors that tend to represent overcoming personal fears and limitations. These juxtapositions mix serious tones with fun imagery, which is again an ode to embracing who he is becoming but at the same time never forgetting where he came from. In his newest body of work, Matt has been pushing his boundaries and comfort zone with his "energy studies" in which he has stripped away structure of the image and left it more to interpretation and feeling. Thick paint, savage palate knife scrapes, and quick brush strokes, create a timeless feeling of energy on the canvas. MR. Herget currently works out of his studio in Los Angeles, CA. 

" You may not be at this level yet financially, but mentally, artistically, and spiritually, you are the level. "

- Jack Armstrong | Artist



" You paint like you're not expecting next month to happen. "

- James Law | Photographer



" It's going to be very interesting to see what you're doing in 20 years. "

- Peter Tunney | Artist



" I've been around a lot of artists in my life and I have never seen one get better as fast as you have. "

- Gregg Shienbaum | Gregg Shienbaum Fine Art



" While in one of my many conversations with Matt, or MR. Herget as he has come to be known, I asked him about some of the painters I thought might influence him, and his response surprised me. Instead of traditional formal influence, MR. Herget finds inspiration from the mindsets of artists he admires – the personalities of such mythic characters as Salvador Dali, Pablo Picasso, and Leonardo da Vinci. MR. Herget is determined above all else to forge his own artistic career not with the influence of stylistic forbearers, but alongside those artists with who he has cognitive and cerebral similarities. In his own words, instead of primary influences, MR. Herget “relies on self-discovery and analysis.” It is precisely this ambitious and independent spirit that defines MR. Herget’s young, yet prolific career.

Born in 1990 and raised in Miami, Florida, MR. Herget began drawing at just two years of age, and was already displaying the fierce confidence in his own hand that is so evident in his recent work. Tirelessly progressing since those early years, MR. Herget’s style has grown into vivid explorations of line, form, and color, arriving at stunningly unique compositions.

Imbuing his images with his own brand of magical realism, MR. Herget’s “combination pieces” fuse the natural and the mechanical worlds in the most unlikely, yet impressively fluid ways.  Edging on the surreal, these mixed media masterpieces add up to a “zoology” of the fantastic imagination of an artist who has accomplished a great deal in a short amount of time.

With a tireless need to create, MR. Herget has been experimenting in a variety of mediums from ballpoint pen, pencil, crayon, chalk, oil, acrylic and watercolor on found objects, canvases, and scrap cardboard. The gritty and boastful works in his oeuvre are only complimented by delicate vignettes of color and line, drawing from and expanding on nature in inventive and pleasing ways, and it is always exciting to see what MR. Herget comes up with next. "

- Everett Laidlaw | Pace Gallery NYC