Lee Matthews / London / UK
Cornell University / BFA painting / USA 2005
Slade School of Fine Arts / MFA painting / UK 2006
Turps Banana / Correspondence Course / 2019
I work from quiet observation, searching for moments of stillness and painting from life. My work is autobiographical, the people closest to me and my memories of being among them. I paint the moments between events, connecting and questioning my place there either witnessing or participating.
It’s the memory of the time, a hazy knowing, when smells and sensations overlap and confuse each other. Sometimes we remember how it felt to be in a room, or with people… I don’t know what he said but, I’ll never forget how he spoke and the feeling of being there. Memories become simultaneously vague and specific.
Growing up I was surrounded by artists and in their spaces. As a teenager I assisted painters all over NYC; cleaning their brushes, preparing their canvases and studios. I spent summers giving tours in museums and interning in galleries. Those spaces felt other-worldly and magical and that feeling has stayed with me. The joy I found there and still find today in my own studio is both why I make work and what I aspire to capture.
The hands and fragmented actions in my paintings are symbolic of artistic practices. In that way, the work is about the moments I’m recording and, equally, about my desire to paint from them. My paintings observe the every-day and commemorate painting from it.
2024 In the Company of Others, SQFT:SPACE Gallery London
2022 Dentons Art Prize, Shortlisted Exhibition London
2022 This Years Model Part III, Studio 1.1 Gallery London
2022 In Formation, Thames Side Studio Gallery London
2021 Awaiting Voices, Mi-Sul Gallery Online London
2021 In Response, Nunnery Gallery London
2021 Ruth Borchard Self Portrait Prize Online Exhibition
2021 In Absentia, CoHort Art
2021 Kingsgate Workshops Trust Open Studios, London
2021 The Horses Mouth, Bomb Factory Art Foundation, London
2020 Kingsgate Workshops Trust Open Studios, London
2019 Art West Open, ACAVA Studios Hythe Rd, London
2017 Topophobophilia, Mclusky Bell & Young; Gallery 46, London
2012 ACAVA Cremer St, Open Studios, London
2007 Reconnaissance, The Empire Gallery London
2007 The Celeste Art Prize / Shortlisted / London
2006 The Slade MFA Degree Show, London UK
2005 Fresh Milk Presents: Current Painting, Milk Gallery, NY
Contact : lee@leematthews.co.uk
