Matt Bahen is an artist living and working in Toronto. Bahen’s primary influence is literature. using an impasto technique of thick oil paint, he strives to interpret the power of metaphor and allegory with paint. The textured surfaces and stark compositions are at once unsettling and highly engaging. Using various motifs including water, fire and animals, Bahen constructs individual narratives that remain in a state of perpetual tension. Most recently Bahen has been working on a series of landscape paintings utilizing the literary device of the enchanted forest as a metaphor for our changing climate. Matt Bahen was born in 1979 and grew up in Schomberg Ontario. He recieved his BFA from the Ontario College of Art and Design University in 2002. In 2013 his exhibition Gravity’s Faith was held at the MacLaren Art Centre in Barrie. In 2022 his exhibition There is Something Happening in the Valley was held at the the Glenhyrst Art Gallery in Brantford Ontario.