Matthew Bober doesn’t just paint pictures—he builds worlds that teeter on the edge of dream and nightmare. With a brush dipped in both humor and unease, Bober’s work carries a signature style: whimsically macabre, effortlessly balancing charm and eeriness. It’s a voice all his own—one that’s instantly recognizable yet constantly evolving.
This past week, Bober completed his third large-scale horse painting, just in time for the group show Fool Me Twice. The piece stands as both a continuation and a culmination, marking a return to a recurring motif that has haunted his work with quiet insistence: the toy horse.
These aren’t your typical still life portraits. In Bober’s hands, these old horses becomes a vessel for something deeper—at once mythic and melancholy, comical yet sinister, and all the while bring back childhood nostalgia filled with colorful memories. There’s a strange familiarity and a poetry in their postures. Each iteration he's created has refined the emotional undercurrent he’s been exploring for years: vulnerability wearing a costume of confidence, memories wearing and fading with time, and the fragility of childhood.
The fact that this is his third horse painting—each bolder and more technically accomplished than the last—says something about Bober’s evolving mastery. His painterly skill is undeniable: lush paint, clever color play, and an intuitive sense of balance and control. But what sets him apart is how he uses that skill to push his odd little worlds just far enough to make us laugh and pause.
The horses are more than just subjects—they’re mirrors, tricksters, perhaps even stand-ins for the artist himself waiting to go on a journey. Aptly titled "The Ride" each piece is calling the viewer to join in the adventure, with steamer trunks packed. They encapsulate the very core of Bober’s practice: a willingness to revisit an idea not to repeat it, but to stretch it, bend it, and see what cracks open.
With the new painting for Fool Me Twice, Bober invites us back into that space of familiar strangeness—where hoofbeats echo through dreamscapes and everything smiles just a little too wide. And as always, we’re glad to follow.
