The paintings of Mathew John depict a wide range of style, subject matter and fine technique of oil painting, which has helped him to achieve International recognition. The various pictures of landscapes and Biblical personalities painted by Mathew John are considered masterpieces and they adorn the walls of Don Bosco Institutions in India and abroad.
Mathew John Puthanangady, a Salesian brother belonging to Salesian Province of New Delhi, after having completed a training in printing technology in Chennai, went on to do advance course in prepress technology in Verona, Italy. On his return in 1995, along with two other Salesians, he started the Bosco School of Printing in New Delhi. In the year 2000, to celebrate the 125th year of the First Salesian missionary expedition, the Rector Major Fr. Juan Edmundo Vecchi invited at least two Salesians from each province to be part of this mission. Bro. Mathew John offered himself willingly for this extraordinary event and went to Nigeria. Already in Nigeria, he used to spend his free time in painting and giving expression to his artistic skill. Besides painting his other skills and interests include 2D animation, 3D modelling and 3D animation, graphic design and photography. Currently he is the teacher of Graphic Design and Multimedia in Don Bosco Technical Institute, New Delhi.
Archbishop Osvaldo Padilla, Apostolic Nuncio of Nigeria was so impressed by Mathew’s paintings, that he requested him to make 4 typical African sceneries for the Vatican Embassy in Nigeria. In 2002, at the request of Istituto Salesiano San Zeno for a 3D modeler and animator, he moved to Verona. In 2008 he won second prize for ‘Il ragazzo del sogno’, an animation movie in the youtube category at the International Catholic film festival conducted in Kraków, Poland.
Bro. Mathew John was trained under Elio Lago, an Italian artist who teaches art and culture at Istituto Salesiano San Zeno, Verona. However, Mathew is more inclined to Rembrandt style of paintings, his approach to composition, colour usage and his play on light and shadow. Large areas of his paintings are obscured in shadow or dark tone but the little streaks of colour here and there bring the painting back to life.
Uma Nair, Curator & Critic says: “The Last Supper is the most talked about painting in the world. Bro. Mathew brings Leonardo da Vinci forward into the modern millennium by creating a contemporary masterpiece in which the participants belong to Today. What is brilliant is his composition and his translation of the spiritual expression alongside the realism of dimension.”
Fr. Babu Varghese SDB