Victor Matthews (artist)


Victor Matthews is an American painter born in New York City, who now shares his time between his birthplace and Los Angeles. He debuted with the support of the most important artists in NY's street-art scene in the eighties, and now is one of the leading figures of the contemporary art scene alongside Keith Haring, Francesco Clemente, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Donald Baechler, and Brice Marden.

First works in New York during the eighties

Young Victor Matthews attended PS138 school in Brooklyn, New York. At his youngest age, he spent hours in his bedroom sketching any usual object that he could put his hands on. He naturally decided to study art, which led him from the High School of Art and Design to a Bachelor of Fine Arts obtained in 1985 at the Art Institute of Fort Lauderdale, before setting up his first studio in the East Village, Manhattan.
On the same year, he could spend his nights painting his first murals in lower Manhattan, which quickly earned him to be noticed by street art lovers. However at this time already, he had chosen to work with wall paint rather than spray paint, which is why he described his work as painting rather than graffiti. Since the mid 80s, he is part of a circle of iconic artists who greatly renewed the New York art scene, alongside the "godfather of street art" Richard Hambleton. Keith Haring taught him how to stretch canvas; Francesco Clemente showed him the use of watercolor; from Ross Bleckner he learned how to work with beeswax and "encaustic painting"; Donald Baechler inspired him with his strong sense of form simplicity; and Brice Marden told him about the use of the "Line" in painting.

Artistic identity

Despite his street-art roots, Victor Matthews is a true studio artist. After a few years working with ink and pastel, Matthews slowly develops the technique and universe which now are his artistic signature. Most of his work is inspired by his birth city of New York, from which he extracts iconic elements that he draws in his paintings. Without any preliminary sketch, he lets himself being driven by the movement and rhythm of his hand to depict his own vision of NYC in a half-hieroglyphic, half-abstract style. Then it's a matter of balance between an often monochromatic taupe background, and of course his emblematic white paint, which dance together to tell a story with multiple layers that are typical of his personal iconography. According to Artweek magazine, Matthews creates "perfectly choreographed mosaic-like paintings of whitewashed and abstracted cityscapes."
As time goes by, and especially due to his frequent stays on the west coast, Victor Matthews' paintings get more abstract and organic. Spirituality also invites itself in his work as he continues to express his zen spirit, which he transcribes on the canvas using Buddhist and Hindu inspiration such as recurrent Third Eye and Tree of Life. Taupe backgrounds get also more nuances : under the Californian sky, the artist's paintings welcome color gradients, "tones" and "moods", which feel like the reflection of sunrises and sunsets on Los Angeles on his work.

Exhibitions and collectors

Victor Matthews' often large-sized paintings were exhibited in an increasing number of galleries between 1985 and 1992, and then in all the United States. Germany, Italy, France, Saint-Barthélémy and many other countries would follow. The first peak of his career took place in 1999 with a first participation in the Venice Biennale, followed by a second appearance in 2013. Gradually, Victor Matthews' universe got the attention of famous people from the show business and American entrepreneurship. International superstars such as Jay Z, L.A. Reid and Robin Thicke own some of his paintings, as well as Russell Simmons, founder of the legendary Def Jam label, who says his Antarctica painting by Matthews is his absolute favourite. Among the many collectors who acquired Matthews' work are also billionaires Donald Trump and Nathaniel Rothschild, former President of Botswana Festus Mogae, actor Forest Whitaker, author Salman Rushdie, and Ellen DeGeneres.

Selected exhibitions

His educational background in public school has made Victor Matthews very sensitive to the cause of art projects involving children. He serves on the board of Rush Philanthropic Arts Foundation founded by his lifelong friend Russell Simmons and his brothers, and was involved in many projects with schools in New York and the Miami's Children Museum.