Inside the Studio: Tibor Matijas
Painting Worlds Between Memory, Nature, and Imagination
For this week’s Inside the Studio, Art Dealer Street features Tibor Matijas, a self-taught acrylic artist based in New York City whose paintings invite viewers into imagined landscapes shaped by travel, memory, emotion, and light.
Before fully dedicating himself to painting, Matijas studied journalism, worked across different fields, and spent years traveling the world on cruise ships. These journeys gave him a rich visual archive of landscapes, atmospheres, and fleeting impressions. But rather than recreating places exactly as he saw them, Matijas transforms them into dreamlike worlds where realism and imagination quietly meet.
His work carries a strong emotional pull. Inspired by nature, light, and the feeling of being transported somewhere peaceful, Matijas creates paintings that offer viewers a pause from the speed of modern life. His canvases are not only scenes to look at, but spaces to enter.
In this interview, Tibor reflects on the childhood memory that first connected him to drawing, the moment painting became a serious path, the influence of travel on his work, and his experience exhibiting at Clio Art Fair in Chelsea, New York.
Read on to learn more in an exclusive interview with Tibor Matijas:
Your journey into painting began after studying journalism, working in different fields, and traveling the world on cruise ships. What finally made painting feel like the creative path you wanted to follow seriously?
I remember the exact moment when painting stopped feeling like something I simply enjoyed and started feeling like something I truly needed to do.
I was working on a painting called Sailors Night, using oil on canvas, and I became completely absorbed in the process. I painted for about 12 hours without even realizing how much time had passed. I felt completely happy and connected to what I was doing.
That was the moment I understood that I had found something I genuinely wanted to pursue. After studying journalism, working in different fields, and traveling around the world, I realized that painting was the one thing that gave me that feeling. So I decided to stop treating it as a hobby and go all in. I did not know exactly where it would take me, but I knew I had found my creative path.
You have shared that your early inspiration came from watching your father draw when you were a child. How did that memory shape your connection to art later in life?
My father was a doctor, and he used to draw human anatomy as part of studying and improving his knowledge. I was fascinated by his drawings and loved watching him work.
I remember one time when he was leaving for work, he had drawn a human face and a tree. He told me to look at them and try to draw them myself. I did, and when he came back, the drawings turned out surprisingly well. He was amazed, and that moment stayed with me.
I only drew a few portraits of human faces at that age, but I drew a lot of trees. Looking back, I realize that even then I was strongly inspired by nature. I think that early experience with my father planted something in me that stayed there for years, even before I fully understood how important art would eventually become in my life.
Many of your paintings are inspired by places you visited while working on cruise ships. How do travel, landscape, and memory come together when you begin a new painting?
When I travel and see a beautiful place, what stays with me is usually not just the image itself, but the feeling it gives me. I might remember the landscape, the atmosphere, the light, or a particular moment, but when I bring that memory to the canvas, I do not try to simply recreate what I saw.
Instead, I try to create a new world, a world of my own, inspired by that place and by the feeling it gave me. I take elements from reality and allow my imagination to transform them into something different.
In a way, I think I am painting feelings. The place may be the starting point, but the emotion and the imagination are what ultimately shape the painting.
You describe your art as a way for people to escape into a world of your imagination. What kind of feeling or experience do you hope viewers enter when they look at your work?
I hope people can experience peace, curiosity, inspiration, and, even if only for a moment, escape into another world.
We live in a time when technology is developing incredibly fast and we are constantly exposed to information. Everything seems to be moving faster and faster, and sometimes I feel that we are becoming disconnected from the things that make us human, especially our connection with nature.
That is one of the reasons I create the way I do. I want my paintings to give people a moment to slow down, breathe, and reconnect with their imagination and with nature. If someone can look at one of my paintings and feel transported somewhere else, even for a few minutes, then I feel I have accomplished something.
But perhaps what would mean the most to me is inspiring another artist. I know how powerful it can be when another artist’s work makes you want to create, and I would love for my paintings to have that same effect on someone else. If my work can make another artist feel something, dream about something, or simply pick up a brush and create, then I believe my art has achieved something truly meaningful.
Your paintings often move between realism, imagination, and a touch of magic. How do you balance real places you have seen with the dreamlike worlds you create on canvas?
Honestly, I do not really think about balancing realism and imagination when I paint. I simply follow the feeling.
A real place or landscape might be the starting point, but once I begin painting, my imagination takes over. I allow myself to change things, exaggerate certain elements, add things that were never there, or create an atmosphere that exists more in my mind than in reality.
I think that is where the magic happens. I want the painting to feel believable enough to draw you in, but imaginative enough to make you wonder what world you have entered. I do not have a formula for that balance. I just follow my instincts and let the painting take me where it wants to go.
Artists such as Thomas Kinkade, Uroš Predić, and Dalibor Popović Mikša have influenced you in different ways. What have you learned from these artists about light, realism, emotion, and atmosphere?
Each of these artists influenced me in a different way.
Thomas Kinkade was very important to me because his use of light and atmosphere reignited my passion for painting. His work reminded me how powerful light can be in creating emotion and transporting the viewer somewhere else.
Uroš Predić taught me, through his work, to appreciate discipline, observation, and realism. His attention to detail showed me how much patience and technical skill it takes to truly capture something convincingly.
Dalibor Popović Mikša was a very talented artist and someone I had the opportunity to know. He gave me a few valuable pieces of advice that made me look at my own work differently, particularly when it came to perception, geometry, and technique. His artistic sensitivity and the way he approached his work also left an impression on me.
I took something different from each of these artists, but ultimately I do not want to become like any artist who inspires me. I want to take what I learn, combine it with my own experiences and imagination, and use it to develop my own artistic voice.
You have said that if you do not enjoy making a piece, even if it is technically strong, you do not consider it art. How important is emotion and personal connection in your painting process?
Emotion and personal connection are number one for me because I follow my instincts throughout the entire creative process. For me, a painting has to feel right before I can consider it truly successful, regardless of how technically strong it may be.
Usually, an idea begins on a piece of paper. I develop and work on that idea for around ten days before I finally begin painting. But once I start working on the canvas, I allow myself to follow my instincts rather than being tied to the original plan.
In fact, about 90 percent of the time, the finished painting is completely different from the idea I started with. I do not see that as losing the original idea. I see it as allowing the painting to become what it is meant to be. The idea may change, but the concept and the meaning behind it remain the same.
For me, that emotional connection and freedom to follow my instincts are what make the process meaningful, and ultimately, what make the work art.
You participated in Clio Art Fair in Chelsea, New York, presenting your work to a wider public audience. What was that experience like for you, and how did it feel to share your imaginative landscapes in that setting?
Participating in Clio Art Fair felt like an important next step in my journey as an artist. It gave me the opportunity to present my work in Chelsea and connect with a wider audience, but also to meet other artists and make some really valuable connections.
What I remember most is being surrounded by so much amazing art and seeing the different ways other artists express themselves. It was inspiring to be part of that environment and to see my own work presented in that setting.
For me, Clio was more than simply another exhibition. It was an experience that helped me grow, opened new doors, and gave me the feeling that I was moving forward in the direction I had chosen for myself as an artist.
Tibor Matijas’ paintings begin with memory, but they do not stay there. They move through feeling, imagination, and instinct, becoming visual worlds where viewers can slow down and reconnect with something quieter. His work reflects a deep belief in painting as both escape and return: an escape from the rush of everyday life, and a return to nature, emotion, and the inner self.
Through light, atmosphere, and dreamlike landscapes, Matijas continues to build a language that is personal, hopeful, and open. His practice reminds us that art does not always need to explain the world. Sometimes, it simply needs to create a space where we can breathe inside it.
You can learn more about Tibor Matijas and his work via these links: Website: Tibor Matijas Instagram: @tibart1
Comments