FROM THE IMRESSIONS COLLECTION
2025 | By Pablo Matute
Description
A moment of concentrated, methodical labor drawn from a child's eye level. Unlike the heroic poses of construction, Matute here renders the humble, often unseen moments of home finishing work. The composition, framed within the larger textured panel, creates a window into memory itself—how children glimpse fragments of their parents' working lives, storing these impressions as partial but powerful recollections. For immigrant families, these quiet rituals of creation and care represent not just renovation but the painstaking building of new belonging, one careful touch at a time.
Pablo Francisco Matute (b. 1999, Ecuador) is a visual artist based in Miami, whose work is shaped by his upbringing in South Florida. Matute’s art delves into the intersection of labor, culture, and space, using unconventional surfaces and transparent mediums like charcoal to capture the layered essence of his memories. This unique approach evokes the multifaceted nature of Latino identity and the physical and emotional labor that contributes to the shaping of personal and collective spaces.
A graduate of Florida International University with a Bachelor of Arts, Matute has exhibited in numerous spaces, including the Doral Museum of Contemporary Art, The University of Nova’s Gallery 217, and Laundromat Art Space, where he is also an ongoing resident. A recipient of the 2024 Artist Innovation Grant from the Broward Cultural Division, his work has been featured in various publications and exhibitions, continuing to contribute to the cultural dialogue of Miami's vibrant art scene.