Matthew Bielen’s paintings are influenced by his love of the ocean, and the play between organic forms, and human’s ability to sculpt them. Growing up, his family would go to the beach in New Hampshire, where the New England beach weather was far more tempestuous than other places. His paintings are influenced by these atmospheric wanderings along the shoreline. Lighthouses, fog, swirling water, are all images conceptually implied in his paintings. Works such as Robert Motherwell’s abstract-expressionist series, “Beside the Sea,” painted from his Cape Cod home/studio, are an evident inspiration for Bielen’s style, content, and color choice, as are his other artistic influences - Budd Hopkins, Wendelin Glatzel, and Dave Hay.