MOSES LAKE - Matt Woo flips through paintings that didn't make it into his exhibit at the Moses Lake Museum and Art Center (MAC) Friday evening.

As he looks through them, he speaks about pursuing art as if it carried the same importance as breathing air.

"I'm always pushing myself," says Woo. "Always. I never sit still ... If you don't, as an artist or as a human being, you die."

It's the opening night of Woo's art exhibit at the MAC, along with the opening of ExhibitUSA's travelling exhibit, "El Caballo: The Horse in Mexican Folk Art." Woo's paintings cover the walls on one side of the museum; folk art honoring the horse's prominence in Mexican culture covers the other side, as the music of Andi Skaug and Lee Lester, singer for local band Thief of Hearts, completes the artistic ambiance.

Taking in his finished paintings, Woo reflects on the ones that never saw the light of day.

"I've had more paintings that failed than succeeded," he says. "I've painted twice as many paintings that didn't live up to my standards."

He paints over the failures, sometimes breathing new life into the concept he'd been working on, sometimes starting on something completely new.

"That's the big lesson that painting has taught me, is that life is proactive, that you need to be proactive in whatever you do," he says. "You can't sit there and let it happen to you, you have to make it happen and that's the biggest thing about being creative."

Woo first devoted his life to art 10 years ago, he says.

"Before then I always flirted with the idea of being an artist, but like anything else, you have to jump in feet first and wholeheartedly, regardless of what it is that you do," he says.

Don Key knows Woo and attended the opening to check out his friend's artwork, he says.

"A lot of (Woo's artwork) is really compelling," he says. "There's quite a good deal that's open to your own personal interpretation."

Key interprets a lot of social commentary in Woo's paintings, although that's not what he normally looks for in artwork, he says.

"I just go by what does it make me feel and can I appreciate the technique or the skill in the execution and do I see something that I haven't seen before by some other artist?" he says.

Woo agrees that there's a social element to the artwork, he says.

"I think it's like osmosis, the way I think of it," he says. "The way I am as a person comes through in my paintings and I'm glad he picked that up, because I do consider myself a socially conscious person where I believe that everybody has the basic American principals: life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, regardless of where you are on the globe.

If you see something in there that you like, then go with it, go with it. Because regardless of how I feel, it's within you as a viewer to see yourself and to believe in the art."

"El Caballo" offers art of a different perspective, rooted firmly in Mexican culture.

"I think there's a certain degree of whimsy involved in exploring the horse through the lens that they have here," says MAC Manager Freya Hart. "I think it's something just about anybody can relate to. It doesn't matter what type of artwork you're interested in, if this is your heritage or not, it's still something that's colorful and fun."

A benefit of the exhibit is that it's designed to be bilingual, an important factor given Moses Lake's large Spanish-speaking population, says Hart.

"That was something that we don't have the skills, necessarily, to produce ourselves, but as a travelling show, 'El Caballo' certainly fulfills that mission," she says.

The artwork of Matt Woo and the "El Caballo" exhibit are open through March 9 at the MAC, 401 S Balsam St., in Moses Lake. The museum is open 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturday, with free admission.