Peter Matthews British
Peter Matthews is an English artist who spent his youth wondering across the fields and beside the River Trent in Derbyshire and Leicestershire. He graduated with an MA in fine art from the Nottingham Trent University in 2003. His practice to experience the sublime and to coexist in a solitary symbiosis with nature has seen him venture long distances, often aimlessly and just following an innate calling, to remote places along the coasts of our world to Chile, Brazil, México, Japan, California and Taiwan. When in England, he works in a wild place along the Atlantic coast of Cornwall where he has been developing a hermetic way of working along the rocky shore, semi-lost and semi-found somewhere between the intertidal reaches of land and water.
His large-scale paintings, which often double up as shelters against the elements and record his lived experiences over those weeks of personal reverie and repose with nature and the landscape have been exhibited internationally at a diverse range of galleries and museums. Matthews’ works have been shown at the North Carolina Museum of Contemporary Art, the Drawing Center, New York, the National Maritime Museum in London, the Saatchi Gallery, London, the Museo Nazionale della Montagna, Torino, Italy and Drawing Room, London amongst others. Matthews exhibited at the 2018 and is also exhibiting at the 2020 John Moores Painting Prize held at the Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool which is open throughout this spring and summer. He has been the recipient of three Arts Council of England grants, is a Winston Churchill Memorial Trust Fellow and in 2020 he was awarded a grant from the Pollock-Krasner Foundation, New York.
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From the Atlantic coast of Maine (right) and the Pacific coast of California (left), 2019Oil paint and earth matter on canvas on plywood75.4 x 38.6 cm
29 3/4 x 15 1/4 in -
From the Atlantic coast of Maine (top and the Pacific coast of California (bottom), 2019Oil paint and earth matter on canvas on plywood48.8 x 31.9 cm
19 1/4 x 12 1/2 in -
Emerge, 2020Oil, acrylic, enamel, sand, stones, a grass reed, flower petals, cuttlefish bone, found objects and thread on canvases from the Atlantic coast of Cornwall, England190 x 180 cm
74 3/4 x 70 7/8 in -
Archipelago, 2021Oil, spray paint, enamel, oil stick and earth on canvas from the Atlantic coast of Cornwall, England160 x 140 cm
63 x 55 1/8 in -
Gannets, 2021Oil, spray paint, oil stick and earth on canvas from the Atlantic coast of Cornwall, England160 x 140 cm
63 x 55 1/8 in
EDUCATION
Master of Fine Art, Distinction, Nottingham Trent University, England
BA Fine Art with Honours, First, Nottingham Trent University, England
SOLO EXHIBITIONS
2021 Glynn Vivian Gallery, Swansea, Wales, Grounded
2020 White Conduit Projects, London, England, Between the Ocean, the Sky and Ourselves
2019 The National Maritime Museum, Royal Museums Greenwich, London, England, From Along the Atlantic Coast
2019 Beers London, London, England, The End Is Where They Start From
2019 The Former Bank of Japan, Hiroshima, Japan, The End Is Where They Start From
2019 Haarlem Artspace, Wirksworth, England, Pacific Ocean Drawings
2018 Montoya, Barcelona, Spain, The End Is Where We Start From (cat)
2018 Palau de Casavells, Girona, Spain, The End Is Where We Start From
2017 Strange Cargo, Folkestone, England
2017 Espacio 88, Barcelona, Spain
2016 Beers London, London, England, In Search of the Sublime
2016 Artissima, Torino, Italy
2015 Scripps Institution of Oceanography, California
2015 University California San Diego, California
2013 Beers London, London, England, Surroundings
2011 James Cohan Gallery, New York, USA, Continuum
2011 Mendes Wood DM, Sao Paulo, Brazil, Sea Marks
SELECTED OTHER EXHIBITIONS
2021 Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool, England, John Moores Painting Prize
2021 Ikon Gallery, Birmingham, England, Ikon for Artists
2021 Christie’s London, Le Ciel Foundation, England Wisdom and Nature
2021 Informality Gallery, Henley-on-Thames, England From Nature
2020 Queen’s House, The Royal Museums, Greenwich, London, Ocean Lines
2020 Christie’s London and Christie’s New York, Le Ciel Foundation, Wisdom and Nature
2020 The Ruskin Museum, Lancaster, England, Drawn to Investigate
2020 UMF Gallery, Farmington, Maine, USA, Sound, Spectacle and Situation
2019 Zona Maco Arte Contemporáneo, México City, México
2019 Filatoio di Caraglio, Caraglio, Italy, Under Water
2019 Groundwork Gallery, King’s Lynn, England, Water Rising
2019 Royal Academy of Arts, London, England, Summer Exhibition
2019 Hote Gallery, Los Angeles, USA, Ōkeanós
2018 Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool, England, John Moores Painting Prize
2018 Künstlerforum Bonn, Bonn, Germany, No Man is an Island
2018 Museo Nazionale della Montagna, Torino, Italy, Post Water
2018 Royal Academy of Arts, London, England, Summer Exhibition
2018 Saatchi Gallery, London, England, Spectrum Art Prize
2018 Beers London, London, England, Summer Salon
2018 Patrick Heide Contemporary Art, London, England, Gute Bekannte
2018 The Concept Space, London, England, Rendition
2018 Drawing Center, New York, USA, Annual Benefit Auction
2017 Drawing Room, London, England, Drawing Biennial 2017
2017 Royal Academy of Arts, London, England, Summer Show
2017 Centro de Arte y Naturaleza, Fundacion Beulas, Spain, Natura Index
2017 Beers London, London, England, Works on Paper
2017 The Strand Gallery, London, England, Poems for the Ocean
2017 Bristol Museum & Art Gallery, Falmouth Art Gallery, Poole Museum and The Wilson, Cheltenham, England, Alternative Visions
2017 Artlink, Hull, England, Shape Arts ARMB 2017
2017 Alto Fest, Naples, Italy, I'll See You Out There
2016 Peninsula Arts, Plymouth, England, Strange Cargo, Folkestone, 2016 England and Crescent Arts, Scarborough, England, Head Above Water
2016 Ferenczy Art Center, Hungary, Art Capital Szentendre: Visual Arts Festival and Biennial
2016 Projektraum der Group Global 3000, Berlin, Germany, The Sea
2016 Drawing Center, New York, USA, Fall Benefit Auction
2016 Ionian Arts Center, Greece, Sea(s)
2016 Wirksworth Festival, Derbyshire, England, Nature: Here and Now
2016 Bath Spa University Media Wall, England, Landscaping Change
2016 UCF, Florida, USA, Surfaces
2016 Force 8, Bridport, Dorset, England, Bodies of Water
2016 American Fabrics Building, Bridgeport, Connecticut, USA, Water
2015 Art House Productions Gallery, New Jersey, USA, After Image: Contemporary Artists and Photography
2015 Laguna Art Museum, Laguna Beach, California, USA, Art and Nature Festival 2015
2015 Peter Scott Gallery, Lancaster Arts. Lancaster, England, Change and Interchange
2015 Shape Arts, London, England, Shortlist 7
2015 Sector 2337, Chicago, USA, Plants, Machines, Animals and Objects
2015 Land/Water and the Visual and Moving Arts Groups, Plymouth University, England, Bodies of Water
2015 Kentler International Drawing Space, New York, USA, Works On Paper
2015 Minesweeper boat at Greenwich, London, England, I'll See You Out There
2014 Royal West of England Academy, Bristol, England, Power of the Sea
2014 Curious Matter, Jersey City, New Jersey, USA, Terra Incognita
2014 Fountain Gallery, Lafayette, Indiana, USA, Set In Motion
2014 Kentler International Drawing Space, New York, USA, Circumstances
2014 Falmouth University Galleries, Cornwall, England, The Haunted 2014 Landscape: Nature, Super-Nature and the Environment
2014 Arebyte Gallery, London, England, Journeys
2014 Banff Castle, Aberdeen, Scotland, Coast Festival 2014
2014 Whitdel Arts, Detroit, USA, The Deep End
2014 Center for Alaskan Coastal Studies, Homer, Alaska, USA, Ocean’s Lament
2014 Aalto University, Pori, Finland, White Cube
2014 Konnektor, Forum für Künste, Hannover, Germany, Appendage
2013 North Carolina Museum of Art, North Carolina, USA, 0:60 The Experience of Time through Contemporary Art
2013 Pratt Manhattan Gallery, New York, USA, 0:60 The Experience of Time through Contemporary Art
2013 Künstlerhaus Dortmund, Germany, Sea Journeys
2013 Forum Factory, Berlin, Germany, Glasklar Milchig
2013 Carnegie Arts Center, Turlock, California, USA, Imagining the Real
2013 An Tobar, Comar, Isle of Mull, Scotland, KartinaZembla/Picture Island
2013 Royal West of England Academy, Bristol, England, Drawn
2012 James Cohan Gallery, New York, USA, Landscape
2012 The Library Space, Battersea, London, Beers London, London, England, A History Revisited
2012 Patrick Heide Contemporary Art, London, England, Breeder
2012 Metropolitan Pavilion, New York, USA, represented by Patrick Heide 2012 Contemporary Art, London, Pulse NY
2012 James Cohan Gallery, New York, USA, VIP Works on Paper (online)
2012 Karst, Plymouth, England, Spectral
2011 James Cohan Gallery, ADAA Exhibition, New York, USA, Cosmology
2011 Beers London, London, England, Systems Beyond Certainty
2011 Rio De Janeiro, Brazil, represented by Mendes Wood DM, Art Rio International Contemporary Art Fair
2011 Patrick Heide Contemporary Art, London, England, Landscape and Memory
2011 Centro de Artes y Naturaleza Film Festival, Zaragoza, Spain, Proyectaragon
2011 British Art Show 7 fringe exhibition, Plymouth, England, Vessel
2011 Kentler Gallery, New York, USA, Marked Differences
2011 New Curtois Gallery, The Collection, Lincoln, England, Opem
2010 Drawing Center, New York, USA, Selections Spring 2010: Sea Marks
2010 Drawing Center, New York, USA, Benefit Auction Drawing Gifts
2010 Mall Galleries, London, England, ING Discerning Eye Drawing Exhibition
2010 Raday Kepshaz Galeria, Budapest, Hungary, With/Drawn
2010 Annex 21, Worcester, England, Worcester Contemporary Open
2010 Bonington Gallery, Nottingham, England, Sculptures from the Media Stream
2009 Kunstraum Kreuzberg/Bethanien Gallery, Berlin, Germany, Drawings No.10
2009 Derby Museum and Art Gallery, Derby, England, Derby City Open
2008 Centre for Recent Drawing, London, England, Pacific Ocean Drawings
2006 New Media Gallery, Virginia, USA, Contemporary Perspectives and New Media
2006 Darlington College of Arts, Devon, England, DRHA
2004 Barrett Art Center, New York, USA, Photowork
2004 Derby Museum and Art Gallery, Derby, England, One Step Beyond
2003 T.W. Art Gallery, Vermont, USA, Contemporary Drawing
2003 Santa Cruz Mountains Art Center, California, USA, Time and Transcendence
RESIDENCIES
2020 Swansea University, Wales
2015 Scripps Institution of Oceanography, California
2015 Experimental Drawing Lab, University California San Diego
2014 Boisbuchet, France
2005-2008 UMAR, Oaxaca, México
RECOGNITIONS AND AWARDS
2021 Selected for the John Moores Painting Prize, Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool
2020 Pollock-Krasner Foundation Grant, New York
2020 Arts Council of Wales Grant
2020 Arts Council of England Emergency Response Fund Grant
2020 Crafts Council U.K. Grant
2019 Winston Churchill Memorial Trust Travel Fellowship
2019 Arts Council of England Grant
2019 Daiwa Anglo Foundation Grant
2019 Changing Coasts Creativity Fellowship, Swansea University, Wales
2018 Selected for the John Moores Painting Prize, Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool
2017 Hugh Casson Drawing Prize, Royal Academy, London
2017 Arts Council of England Grant
2016 The Annex Collection Acquisition Award
2015 Honorarium, Laguna Arts Museum, California
2015 Visual Arts Sea Grant, University of Rhode Island
2015 Landscape Artist of the Year, Sky Arts
2014 Finalist, Francois Schneider Contemporary Talents, France
2011 Landscape Instants Film Prize, CDAN Centro de Artes Naturales, Huesca, Spain
2011 Drawing Prize, OPEM, New Curtois Gallery, Lincoln, England
2010 Short listed for the ING Discerning Eye Drawing Bursary 2010
2009 Honorarium, Drawing Center, New York
2009 British Council Grant to Visual Artist
2008 AA2A Grant to Practicing Artist
2005 Arts Council of England Professional Development Grant
2004 Princess Trust Grant
COLLECTIONS
Work in private collections in the USA, UK, France, Spain, México, Italy, Germany, Finland, Japan, Taiwan, Netherlands, Russia, Turkey and Brazil
Rubell Family Collection, Miami
SoHo House, Babington House, England
Beth Rudin DeWoody Collection
Isabel and Agustin Coppel Collection, México
Centro de Arte y Naturaleza, Fundacion Beulas, Spain
Scripps Institution of Oceanography, California
National Maritime Museum, London
The Annex Collection U.K.
SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY
2021
National Museums of Liverpool. John Moores Painting Prize Exhibition Catalogue
Ocula Magazine. From Nature: The Materials Are the Message. Available at: https://ocula.com/magazine/insights/the-materials-are-the-message/.
2020
Elephant Magazine (#41), by Carey-Grant, P. Can Art Move the World. pp.32-36.
Volume Press. DRAWN, (#1). In Dialogue with the Ocean. pp. 145-172. Shanghai, China.
Casey, S. and Davies, G. (2020). Drawing Investigations: Graphic Relationships with Science, Culture and Environment. 1st ed. London: Bloomsbury Visual Arts.
Casey, S., Davies, G. and Gørrill, H. ed., (2020). Drawn to Investigate. Lancaster: The Ruskin - Museum of the Near Future, Lancaster University.
2019
The Broadcast. The Ocean’s Brush: In Conversation with Peter Matthews. Available at: https://finisterre.com/blogs/broadcast/in-conversation-with-peter-matthews.
Oceanic Global. Peter Matthews. Available at :https://oceanic.global/peter-matthews.
Nouse. So Much To Sea. Available at: https://nouse.co.uk/2019/03/06/so-much-to-sea.
2018
National Museums of Liverpool. John Moores Painting Prize Exhibition Catalogue.
Royal Academy of Arts, London. 250th Summer Exhibition Illustrated Catalogue.
Künstlerforum Bonn, Bonn, Germany. No Man Is an Island Exhibition Catalogue.
Museo Nazionale della Montagna,Torino, Italy. Post Water Exhibition Catalogue.
BBC Radio 4. Art Beneath the Waves. Available at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m00013nr
BBC News. The man who paints in the ocean. Available at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-43584232.
BBC World Service - The Why Factor, Being at Sea. Available at: https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/w3cswrkb.
BBC Radio Derby, Peter Matthews talks with Presenter Sally Pepper. Available at: http://petermatthews.org/bbc-radio-april-2018.
Lerda, A. 134. PETER MATTHEWS. Platformgreen.org. Available at: http://www.platformgreen.org/projects-index/326-matthews.
Patrick Heide Contemporary Art, Ten, Patrick Heide Contemporary Art, London.
2017
CBC. Artist Peter Matthews gets intimate with nature by bringing his art into theocean . CBC Radio. Available at: https://www.cbc.ca/radio/q/schedule-for-friday-january-6-2017-1.3920956/artist-peter-matthews-gets-intimate-with-nature-by-bringing-his-art-into-the-ocean-1.3923948 .
Howes, D., Heywood, I., Casey, S. and Davies, G. (2017). Sensory Arts and Design: Drawn Away from Vision: Encounters with the Unseen. 1st ed. Bloomsbury Academic.
2016
Frizzell, N. Meet the underwater artist inspired by a near-death experience. The Guardian. Available at: https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2016/sep/09/peter-matthews-underwater-artist--near-death-experience.
Los Angeles Times – Artist Gets Physical to Explore Metaphysical Concepts. Available at: http://www.latimes.com/socal/weekend/news/tn-wknd-et-0110-hansen-20160110-story.html.
Ernest Journal. The Free-Diving Artist. Available at: http://www.ernestjournal.co.uk/blog/2016/6/2/the-sea-artist.
Floorr. Issue Five. Peter Matthews. Available at: https://www.floorrmagazine.com/issue-5/peter-matthews.
The Cornishman. When Creativity Hits Like a Wave. Cornwall. Newspaper. Pages1-3.
2015
Art.Zip. Water Colours-Interview with Peter Matthews. Available at http://www.artzip.org/peter-matthews.
2014
Kerr, J. Power of the Sea. Bristol: Royal West of England Academy.
The Island Review. Bewitched by the Sea. Available at: http://theislandreview.com/bewitchedsea/.
Tuuum. Artist Interview. Available at: http://blog.tuuum.com/post/80681751388/peter-matthews.
Apollo Magazine. Review: ‘The Power of the Sea’ at the Royal West of England Academy by Melanie Vandebrouck. Available at: https://www.apollo-magazine.com/review-power-sea-royal-west-england-academy/.
2013
0 to 60: The Experience of Time Through Contemporary Art. Raleigh: North Carolina Museum of Art, pp.108-111.
2012
The Common. Portrait of Land and Sea. Available at: https://www.thecommononline.org/portraits-of-land-and-sea/.
2010
Katchadourian, N. and Burnett, D. (2010). Selections, Spring 2010: Sea Marks. New York: The Drawing Center.
The Drawing Center, New York. Selections Spring 2010: Sea Marks. Issuu. Available at: https://issuu.com/drawingcenter/docs/drawingpapers89_seamarks.
Parsons School of Design, New York. Mapping Ocean Dynamics. Available at: http://piim.newschool.edu/journal/issues/2010/04/pdfs/ParsonsJournalForInformationMapping_Matthews-Peter.pdf.