Matthew Schaefer is an American Abstract Expressionist artist, celebrated for his distinctive expressive style. Throughout a lifetime of working nearly daily on painting and drawing, he has honed his artistic approach through experimentation in modernist modes, from fauvism and formalism, to pop and graffiti art. He can be found in fine art galleries and interior design shops in Chicago; he has been featured by interior decorators and art buyers from New York to LA, and now, Schaefer’s work reaches a global audience at artisallshesaid.com.

Schaefer evokes an authentic spontaneity in his charcoal and brush drawings by skillfully balancing his formal figurative training with the vigorous brushstroke methods of abstract expressionism. In contrast to the improvisational approach in his drawings, Schaefer is using palimpsest techniques in his oil painting -- the process involves selectively painting on finished scenes to build abstract layers of color and form. The wholly original creation embodies the painter's inner dialogue with his art, and fuses the elements of time and memory into his process. 

Two defining features of Schaefer's style are his focus on the interplay between form, color and empty space to create motion as a presence, and his commitment to giving his art a life of its own. In a deeply personal process, Schaefer works by steadily relinquishing conscious control and tapping into a primal creative impulse. Schaefer's art emerges free and pure, capturing the essence of his artistic vision.