Matt Kleberg paints thresholds. That moment where things begin. His canvases are full of arches, doorways and curtained alcoves, drawn from altars, theatre stages and church apses, each one framing a space you can look into but not enter.
He works mainly in oilstick, pressing and dragging it across the canvas in earthy greens, dusty blues and the terracotta colours of South Texas. He lets earlier layers of colour show through the top ones, which gives the paintings their depth.
Kleberg took a BA at the University of Virginia and an MFA at Pratt. His work is held by the National Gallery of Art in Washington, the Museum of Fine Arts Houston and the Addison Gallery of American Art, and his supporters include Berggruen Gallery and Josh Pazda Hiram Butler.
He grew up on his family's cattle ranch in South Texas, the fifth generation to do so, and lives and works in San Antonio.
