Born in Inglewood California, in 1972, Dale Mathis has the mind of a master watchmaker, hands of a carpenter, and the eye of an artist, combined with the old and new, industrial and civilized he creates his functional, clockwork art. As a self-taught artist, he worked on construction sites with his father while the artistic influences as a child began to be expressed as a young adult. Dale began building mechanized art pieces that captured the imagination of his childhood. As collectors and galleries took notice his  career in art was born.

A viewer doesn’t need to be an expert in clockwork to appreciate the fine craftsmanship found within Dale Mathis’s clocks, coffee tables, and bars. We see each tooth of the gears has been cut with precision and placed perfectly in order to make the next gear move, and then the next, each one lending help to make the art function.

Seeking to break with the intensity of urban street life to find solace and focus, Mathis established a new life as an artist working half of the year from his studio, in the Philippines. The idyllic environment, people, culture and love of art embraced him as much as he embraced them. He currently spends equal amounts of time in both the United States and the Philippines with his sweet wife and children. The spinning of gears and thrusting of pistons, the whimsy of fantasy, and the grit of the street kid gone straight, all combine into the art of Dale Mathis. The subtle influences from fantastical designs of H.G. Wells, Jules Verne, and Edmondia Lewis set Dale Mathis into a category all to himself.

As we fall into observing his art we find that just like life, Art can imitate life, and in life, there’s always something beneath the surface. There’s always something keeping the flow, moving the pieces and parts where they need to go; and in Dale Mathis’s work, what’s beneath the surface are pistons and gears that spin and whirl.

“My art has elements of science fiction and elegance. That’s an unusual pair,” Dale Mathis says. “I’d like to think that my pieces make people think, but they also make people smile, no matter if they like them or not.”

His art enthralls collectors around the world. A few of his principal collectors and corporate collections include, but not limited to, The Prince of Qatar; Damon Wayans; Criss Angel; Teller (of Penn and Teller); Sunrise Children’s Hospital; and St. Jude Children’s Hospital. Additionally, his artwork resides in galleries and private collections around the United States as well as in London, Italy, France, Russia, Turkey, Brazil, Philippines, Australia, Indonesia, New Zealand, Qatar, Dubai, Japan, China, India and Mexico.