Circus of Colours

Matthew Hunter is a proudly Australian, local Adelaide artist who is heavily inspired by his friend, mentor, and fellow South Australian artist, the late Trevor Nickolls.

Having spent a lot of time at Trevor’s house and art room, and studying his works, Matthew was inspired by the desert art, fine line work, crosshatching ochre colours, and boldness of figures. Trevor taught him the perspective of looking down from above, Rover Thomas style.

For Matthew, his art is about therapy, unlocking the other side of mind and spirit. His work is free hand, with no starting point, always turning the work around to give an interesting perspective. His imagination is what determines theme and colour.

Matthew has had his works in a successful SALA show in 2016 at Avenues Café. His work is also in many other shops and cafes in the local Payneham/St Peter’s area.

As a young boy, Matthew lived in the USA then Paraguay as his family did missionary work there. He took in the art he saw including traditional Aztec, West and Guarani Indigenous art of Paraguay.

Many people have said that his art looks Aboriginal, Egyptian and Pacific Islander. One customer uses his artwork as part of their Kinesiology classes for healing.

Matthew credits his hand eye coordination from being a sportsperson and he plays snooker and billiards to keep it sharp.

He loves the reaction he gets when showing his work and feels privileged to be able to concentrate on art as a job, do part time gardening work, and volunteer at a local footy club.