Mathew Borrett’s Instagram tagline reads “Lost time traveler”, which has a truth to it. Based in Toronto, Canada, Borrett works in the visual effects industry for both TV and film, and shares his digital illustrations online. His artwork presents a detached urban landscape for an imagined future or imagined past.
“I often draw spaces that you might want to hide in or hide from, or where outside and inside our blurred,” Borrett shared in an interview with Indigits. “Protective walls are breached.”
Devoid of human presence, his illustrations provide the perfect backdrop for a sci-fi movie or video game. “I create spaces for the viewer to explore and respond to however they will,” says Borrett, “so in that sense the interpretation is open and free.”
His landscapes include a digital rendering of Toronto which he calls a “Hypnagogic City”, explaining that “Hypnagogia” is the experience of the transitional state from wakefulness to sleep. In it, the city’s civic center is presented in a seemingly parallel universe. Taking a maximalist approach, the viewer is presented with a hyper-detailed scene that invites repeated exploration.
Born in rural Ontario, Borrett admits to being inspired by the natural world. “The natural world inspires me most,” says Borrett, “the way it resovles into infinite detail in both directions, if you have the eyes or instruments to look closely enough.”
