Born in Memphis TN in 1969, Matthew Hasty has lived most of his life in the south. Being that his mother was an artist, the materials to make art were always around from early childhood. Matthew has been painting, making art, and moving all around the southern United States from a very young age. In 1993 he earned his BFA in Fine Arts at the Ringling School of Art and Design in Sarasota, Florida, after which he moved to New York for a period of three years. “New York is a great place to “see” art and for some a place to make it ... I just always felt there were too many distractions ... and it’s not a place to find solace or peace for me. I knew that I could never be at home there.” says Matthew. For a time, he traveled the country in search of the meaning and inspiration for his art making a living as a builder, painter and musician. His artistic path took many twists and turns as he found peace in family life in his native town of Memphis. The subject matter of his work changed during this period, from angst driven figurative paintings, the landscape merely being the backdrop for his dark personal allegories, to his more recent work: serene, spiritually charged landscapes mostly devoid of human activity. Inspired by the luminous colors of nature he creates hauntingly beautiful landscapes of the South. He considers his paintings to be inspired mostly by landscape painters working in the Nineteenth century. Prominent landscape and marine painters of The Hudson River School, the luminists, The Barbizon School, The Dusseldorf School, and innumerable painters from Russia are some of his strongest influences. Matthew's Paintings can be found in collections throughout the United States as well as Russia, Germany, France, and South Korea.