“I want my art to be the truest manifestation of myself,” said Matthew Bateson, third-year student.

Bateson never imagined constructing his existence around the creation of art. Growing up in Camerontown, Bateson’s interests revolved around skateboarding and extreme sports. After a series of severe injuries, Bateson was reminded of his mortality and gave up his hopes for a potentially debilitating career. However, something better came from his disappointment. Bateson found himself falling helplessly in love with art. From the mundane to the most whimsical, Bateson is inspired by it all.

“It’s hard to verbalize the style or feeling behind my work so I would say that I have a loose style,” Bateson said. “My sculptures, my prints, they all have this fluid quality. I’m inspired a lot by spontaneity and whatever feels right.”

Though Bateson is considered a printmaker, he expresses himself through a variety of different mediums. He enjoys photography, sculpting and drawing. No matter the form, his goal is to incite emotion in his viewers by extending to them his rawest and most genuine self-narrative.

“I want my art to make me happy and not worry about what other people will think of it,” Bateson said. “I’m not making it to satisfy others.”

There is no easy way to describe Bateson’s art, but graffiti, a dark sense of surrealism and space is a common theme in a lot of his works. Influenced especially by skate culture and sustainability, Bateson focuses on working with available materials in his immediate environment. Using these materials gives his sculptures in particular a modern, urban-like twist.

“I like to rework older objects to make them look better. My biggest challenge has been finding the money to buy crazy art supplies. So I have to figure out how to do this with what I have,” he said.

Bateson’s desire to innovate is evident not only in his work but in the way he passionately articulates his multitude of ideas and philosophies behind them.

“In the collegiate art world, they always want us to have a deeper meaning behind our artwork,” Bateson said. “One of the mottos that I live by is one that a friend’s dad told me: ‘Be prepared for everything’ which means to essentially take care of yourself, be aware, get organized and be knowing.”

Bateson’s art is a manifestation of this way of thinking. One of his recent print projects, which he title “Continuity” is meant to represent positive character development in an ever-changing life. His mentality to challenge collegiate art standards while also channeling his truest self, is what fuels his need to create.

“The most important thing is to just work really hard at what you’re doing and not care what other people think of you,” Bateson said.

Bateson’s work can be found on Instagram: @mutatedlogic

Anisha Brady can be reached at [email protected] or @theorion_arts on Twitter.