Matt Nolen is a painter and architect who lives and works in Manhattan. Nolen specializes in clay and renders meticulously detailed sculptures painted in a realistic style that connects to the genre of surrealism. Allegorical narratives gradually unfold as the aura of complexity continues to build in each piece.

Nolen’s figures usually appear as if they are at a loss. Despots (2009) consists of at least thirteen heads, set in a three-tiered installation that depicts portraits of the most despotic leader of our era. However these objects are more than sculpted likenesses since they are also presented as planters filled with soil. Oil Lamp (2010) features a small figure reaching toward a flame that sheds light over an ocean consisting of an oil drilling rig, an aircraft carrier and a beached whale.

The artist’s attention to detail is profound, methodical and serendipitous. In 2010 the Jane Hartsook Gallery hosted his most recent solo show titled Grotesque Garden. Matt Nolen’s work was also included in a group show titled Cultural Blending in the Ceramic Arts from February to March 2011 at the Flushing Council on Culture & the Arts. Nolen’s most recent work from 2012 titled City-States explores the combination of print and porcelain, inspired from speech and thought balloons that appear in cartoons. This new body of work appeared at the Surface Library in New York City.