For The Righteous Age , Matt Leines presents a multifaceted installation of sculpture, drawings, and a limited edition of flags. Replete with mustached men, wild beasts, a boat and an eight-foot pyramid, Leines’ meticulously created fantasy world evokes a sense of narrative through setting and implied interaction. With a background in illustration from Rhode Island School of Design, Leines asserts himself as both artist and storyteller, while his characters become the protagonists in an imagined world. Deliberately flat, geometric, and utilizing an extended primary palette, Leines’s imaginative installation invites a mythological interpretation.

Obsessively intricate and painstakingly patterned, Leines wide-eyed gentlemen are drawn from a variety of places. Recalling his childhood memories of action figures, heroes, and wrestling champions, Leines finds inspiration in the archetypal man. However, he does not merely borrow imagery, but instead produces his own interpretation: “If there is something I come across, an image, a composition, an idea, I just draw it…until the initial influence has disappeared and it exists only in my world.” Thus, he establishes ownership over his imagery, and his subjects take on a formal as well as narrative role.

Recently, Matt’s work has been seen at a solo exhibition at Roberts & Tilton Gallery in Los Angeles. His work was also included in several group shows, such as Brain Bashers , at Andenken Gallery, in Denver, Colorado, and 4 Large Works , at Community Outreach Gallery, in London, Ontario. He was recently awarded a residency at The Watermill Center in Watermill, New York. Matt lives and works in Montclair, New Jersey.