Peter Matthews British

Overview

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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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.