VICTOR MATTHEWS
B. 1963
American
Victor Matthews works in a soft palette of white on raw linen canvas. His works are sophisticated and elegant and have a poetic playfulness about them. Throughout the 1980s and 90s, Victor Matthews worked alongside his friends and contemporaries Keith Haring, Jean-Michel Basquiat, Donald Baechler, and under the tutelage of lifelong mentors Francesco Clemente and Brice Martin to develop his signature style. With perfectly choreographed chaos, Matthews’s paintings and drawings represent a sophisticated hybrid of traditional studio painting and street art techniques. The artist’s images teem with motion and abstraction.
In his new Utopia series, Matthews’s singularly meditative representations of the island’s landscapes, flora, and fauna celebrate St Barth as both subject and muse, where the quiet seclusion of the island embodies the promise of utopia. “Somewhere there’s an inner feeling of serenity and peace among all living things...The connection is there all around us," explains Matthews.
Victor Matthews has exhibited extensively internationally. He was invited to showcase his work at both the 48th and 55th iterations of the Venice Biennale. His paintings are found in the permanent collections of LACMA, the Boca Raton Museum of Art, and he counts music mogul Jay-Z, literary icon Salman Rushdie, Hollywood elites Forest Whitaker and Ellen DeGeneres, and artists Brice and Helen Martin amongst his most devoted collectors and patrons. Most recently, Matthews completed a public mural at the Los Angeles Lakers’ training facility; a callback to the artist’s street art roots.
Museum & Institutional Collections
Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), Los Angeles, CA
Sala 1 Centro Internazionale d'Arte Contemporanea, Rome, Italy
Museum Nuova Icona, Venice, Italy
Museum Overholland, Amsterdam, Netherlands
Museum Ludwig, Cologne, Germany
The New School of Social Research, The New School, New York City, NY
Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, Cornell University, Ithaca, NY
Mellon Foundation, New York City, NY
Warner Foundation, New York City, NY
Boca Raton Museum of Art, Boca Raton, FL
Salomon Brothers Collection, New York City, NY
Shearson Lehman Collection, New York City, NY
Eden Rock Hotel, St. Jean, St Barthélemy
Solo Exhibitions
2019 Victor Matthews: Utopia, Space Gallery St Barth, Gustavia, St. Barthélemy
2019 Victor Matthews: City of Dreams. Space Gallery St Barth, New York, NY
2016 Victor Matthews: The Longest Road. KM Fine Arts, Chicago, IL
2015 Victor Matthews: Contemplations & Reflections, KM Fine Arts, Los Angeles, CA
2014 Victor Matthews: Brighter...brighter...brightest, KM Fine Arts, Los Angeles, CA
2008 Antarctica, Olivia on Warren, Hudson, NY
2007 Oliver Houg Gallery, Lyon, France
2005 Galerie Berinson, Berlin, Germany
2004 Beyond Metamorphosis, The New York Department of Parks and Recreation, New York City, NY
1998 The Stephen Wirtz Gallery, San Francisco, CA
1992 Rubenstein/Diacono, New York City, NY
1991 Victor Matthews: New Paintings, Tilden Foley Gallery, New Orleans, LA
1988 Gallerie Sadjusehin, Konstanz, Germany
1988 Gallerie Berinson, Berlin, Germany
1987 Maurice Azoulay Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
1986 E.V. Gallery, New York City, NY
1985 Aesthetics Gallery, New York City, NY
Group Exhibitions
2019 Gesture vs Geometry: Lyrical and Geometric Paintings, Portico, New York City, NY
2018 St Barth in the City, Space Gallery St Barth, New York City, NY
2015 Musings | Part 1, KM Fine Arts, Los Angeles, CA
2015 BLACK + BLUE, KM Fine Arts, Chicago, IL
2014 Tête a tête, KM Fine Arts, Los Angeles, CA
2013 Transitions: Victor Matthews & Paolo Nicola Rossini, Boca Raton Museum of Art, Boca Raton, FL
2013 Victor Matthews & Paolo Nicola Rossini: Transitions/Transizioni, La Biennale di Venezia 2013, Venice, Italy
2009 Champions of Modernism III, Wendy Gallery, Laguna Beach, CA
2006 Champions of Modernism II, Denise Bibro Fine Art, Inc., New York City, NY
2001 Panther, SculptureCenter, Long Island City, NY
2000 Sala 1, International Center for Contemporary Art, Rome, Italy
1999 Renée Cox & Victor Matthews: all'Oratorio di San Ludovico, La Biennale di Venezia 1999, Venice, Italy
1996 Champions of Modernism, The Castle Gallery, College of New Rochelle, NY
1996 Champions of Modernism, Mary Washington College Galleries, Fredericksburg, VA
1996 Champions of Modernism, Gibbes Museum of Art, Charleston, SC
1996 Champions of Modernism, Sunrise Museum, Charleston, SC
1996 Champions of Modernism, Brevard Museum of Art and Science, Melbourne, FL
1995 Pink Innocence, Grand Salon, New York City, NY
1995 Pink Innocence, Stephen Wirtz Gallery, San Francisco, CA
1995 Pink Innocence, Kantor Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
1995 Pink Innocence, Paul Nievergilt, Zurich, Switzerland
1993 Drawing the Line Against AIDS [under the aegis of the 45th Venice Biennale], Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, Venice, Italy
1991 Tibor de Nagy, New York City, NY
1989 Cologne Art Fair, Cologne, Germany
1988Tower Gallery, New York City, NY
1986 Art et Industrie, New York City, NY
1986 Moda Exhibition Space, New York City, NY
1985 Palladium East Village Show, New York City, NY
1985 Torn Awning Gallery, New York City, NY
Press & Publications
2021 Shades of White and Beige: Custom Murals by Victor Matthews | St Barths Weekly | 23 January 2021
2020 A Passion for Art | Eden Rock St Barth Magazine | 31 January 2020
2019 Victor Matthews, Utopia at Space Gallery St Barth | St Barth Weekly | 30 November 2019
Utopia à la Space Gallery | Le Journal de Saint-Barth | 22 November 2019
Space Gallery St Barth presents Victor Matthews: City of Dreams | Live in Style | 5 September 2019
2016 Victor Matthews: Art in the Street and Street in the Art | Lenox + Parker | Summer 2016
Kenny Scharf and Victor Matthews Paint the Bronx | Blouin Art Info | 21 June 2016
Victor Matthews renders his fantastical vision of New York in white | Artsy | 20 January 2016
Courtier, Patrice. Victor Matthews: Milky Way. Moulin-lès-Metz: Art Passion, 2016.
2015 Courtier, Patrice. Victor Matthews: Some Thoughts and Dreams. Moulin-lès-Metz: Art Passion, 2015.
2013 Clifford, Natalie and Vittorio Urbani. Transitions/Transizioni: La Biennale de Venezia 2013. Gustavia: Space Gallery St Barth, 2013.
2014 Victor Matthews has Art of Gold | Page Six | 15 September 2014
Hollinger, Ana M. Victor Matthews: Bright...brighter...brightest. Los Angeles: KM Fine Arts, 2014.
2010 Manqueros, Joseph and Serina Manqueros. Victor Matthews: Alter Ego Paintings. New York: Wendt Gallery, 2010.
1993 The Town with the Last Generation | New York Magazine | 16 March 1993
Krim, Mathilde, Elizabeth Taylor and Achille Bonito Olivia. Drawing the Line Against Aids. New York: Rizzoli International Publications, Inc., 1993.