Los Angeles based artist Matthew Heller draws from personal narratives for inspiration, using a visual form dating back to René Magritte and later favored by conceptual artists during the 1960s. Heller’s paintings replace imagery with phrases, poems, lyrics or single words painted on canvas in the form of printed text. The source to his prose may come from his own writings, while other texts quote songs by cultural legends such as John Lennon and David Bowie. Language gets re-contextualized and can be interpreted not only for what it states but how the typography occupies the space on the canvas. Heller’s canvases are painstakingly applied, and some can deceive the viewer into thinking they are created with materials other than paint.