Curt Mattson creates unique and quality work.  These pieces will enrich your environment and bring to you the fascinating world of the North American Cowboy.

Man is a creator; it is intrinsic in his very being. This drive to create is one of the most compelling proofs that man, himself, has been created.  For it is in the image of his Creator that he was formed.  It is fitting that man, formed out of the dust of the earth, would seek to create out of the clay of the earth.

I sculpt and paint to bring to the world images that will encourage, excite and enrich.  It is my goal to create lasting works that will be a constant source of joy to each collector.  It is vitally important to me that my pieces be, not only accurate from a historical perspective, but also have the ingredients of truly great art.

My passion is the world of the buckaroo and of horsemen and horsewomen, both contemporary and historic.  This is my background, combined with the love of art and of training horses.  It is vitally important to me to leave a record of the buckaroo of today, and to tell the lives of the historic horseman of the West.  The pieces I create allow me to share this passion.

Bronze is the medium that allows such statements to be made in a tangible form.  Not only the sense of sight is involved, but the sense of touch, as one views the piece in the round.  The piece will enchant you afresh each time you move it.  Sculpture allows me latitude that I do not have in flat formats.  Watercolor has a transparency and luminosity unavailable in other mediums.  Watercolor is a classic format for Western Art and telling the stories of the West.

Sculpture is what initially drew me to art.  On a ranch, surrounded by the horses I love, I wasn’t looking for another obsession.  But then I saw a bronze done by a cowboy artist, and it struck me hard.  From that point on I began to pursue the means to sculpt.  Other sculptors took the time to teach me.  I began to grow as a sculptor.  These men gave me the background to accomplish more and more sculpturally, as I pushed forward.  I must look at the masters of our day and of the past to study and learn from both.  I desire that my work will be seen as important art in the years after I am gone.  Sculpture is as timeless a medium as man has to leave a record.  Therefore I want what I sculpt to be worthy of such a permanent material.

I have always loved  Ed Borein’s watercolors.  His work has the authenticity of someone that has been there.  Like myself, he was a native Californian and worked on ranches throughout California and the West.   His work focused on the Vaqueros of California that he had ridden with.  His work breathes with life and energy.  Watercolor is the most difficult of mediums and the challenge of creating with it draws me to create paintings of the West.  It is a very permanent medium and has its own challenges that drives me to excel with it.

Few of us will ever know what it is like to be on horseback in country that swallows you up with its grandeur.  We can only wonder about the sensations we might have as we sit on the back of a nasty bronc, fanning him to the point where the bucking ends.  Imagine having a rope out, chasing after maverick cattle.  Picture yourself next to your horse, cold and wet already, and the morning has just begun.  These and a thousand other experiences are what the buckaroo lives.  In spite of the challenges he faces today, the buckaroo understands that what he does has an important role in America’s future.  He is an American icon that represents what is good in our great country.  My art celebrates this lifestyle.

My life has been centered around this world.  To be able to bring this world to others,  is a great joy, a privilege and a great responsibility.