M% Garson Fine Art founder and creative force is Matthew Garson. His passion for art and collecting began when he was still a teenager with the purchase of signed Christo print. This print still hangs in his home. The collection has expanded over the years and now that Christo print is kept company by the likes of a Petah Coyne, Donald Lipski, Ed Rusha, Lorna Simpson and Fred Tomaselli. Taking in the collection as a whole, an underlying focus emerges being both the artist’s process and unique medium used. Since the time of that initial purchase, Matthew has concurrently expanded not only his collection but his love and knowledge of the art of our times.

Matthew Garson spent most of the 90's working as Assistant Curator for The Progressive Corporation’s art collection under Ms. Toby Devan Lewis. Both Progressive's collection and curator at the time were considered to be the best in the country and have been honored time and time again by the contemporary art community. During these years Matthew was exposed to every facet of the art world, from artist to dealer to installer to collector. This enabled him to assemble a far reaching group of contacts including artists and galleries worldwide. A fondest memory he looks back on during his Progressive years was his involvement in overseeing and co-coordinating the site-specific commissions. These commissions were created for unique spaces (stairwells or atriums as high as 85’) by visionary artists (Petah Coyne, James Hyde, Jon Kessler, Vik Muniz and Beverly Semmes) using unique mediums (fiberglass, ribbons, wax, aluminum, organza and Styrofoam blocks as big as cars). These projects pushed Matthew to the limit both physically and mentally but also forced him to expand his vision and to look and think of things in a whole new way.

In 2000, upon leaving Progressive, Matthew established M%, a consulting firm specializing in the fusion of life, art and style for the new millennium. M% is as unique as both its owner and its name. Simply stated, M% stands for many things; the “M” for Matthew, Millennium (the year the firm was started), and Modern. It is also the Roman numeral for 1,000, as Matthew insists on giving 1,000 percent to everything he does. His passion for perfection, drive for success and his desire to create experiences that enhance not just ones home or office, but their life as well, is truly what sets him apart. M% focuses on clients seeking assistance with art acquisitions & installations, as well as arts management, consisting of framing, conservation, appraisals, inventory and re-sale.

The same year, M% was created Matt teamed up with Lindy Barnett and her cutting edge furniture showroom, Bello Design, in Cleveland, OH. While maintaining exhibitions at Bello, Matthew gained expertise in the field of design. Matthew began working with clients on a variety of projects, including architectural renovation, remodeling and interior design. In September 2007, Matt was published in “Spectacular Homes of Ohio & Pennsylvania”.

In 2002, M% opened a unique space to call home where a context was created for understanding and communicating with art. The gallery, more of a living room with corrugated galvanized steel walls, set the mood for an exhibition schedule of innovative furnishings, designs and cutting edge contemporary artwork from regional, national & international artists. M% established a new way of to view art.

In 2006, M% moved its offices to a more intimate gallery space and began producing flow, an invitational artfair taking place in Miami during Art Basel. He worked closely on this project with Julie Baker of Julie Baker Fine Art, Grassvalley, CA.

In 2007, Garson Fine Art opened a gallery in Chelsea in New York City. With an expanded program, cutting edge exhibitions and the participation in select art fairs throughout the year, M% and Garson Fine Art continued to diversify. Julie Baker and M% produced flow for the second year in a row with great success in 2007.

In 2008, Julie Baker joined forces with Matthew Garson and opened Garson Baker Fine Art. With great shows of new artists, reviews in major magazines and a good buzz around town, the future looked promising. Unfortunately it got swallowed up by the collapsing economy. A decision was made to cancel flow in 2008 and close the gallery space by the end of the year.

In 2009, Matthew has been focusing on a restructuring M% Garson Fine Art.

In 2010, M% Garson Fine Art will begin a series of online exhibitions and be more involved with the secondary market. At this time we will officially be “going green” by sending all of our mailing materials and announcements electronically through E-mail. As the market becomes strong again, watch for a new space to open once more.