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.

GET IN TOUCH

SUBSCRIBE

Full Name *

Email Address *

Copyright © 2024, Art Gallery Websites by ArtCloudCopyright © 2024, Art Gallery Websites by ArtCloud