Matvei Matveev

Working between structure and improvisation, Matvei seeks to capture unpredictable qualities of different materials by putting the work into the hands of process – a process where his direct gesture is removed, canvases are folded, stained and left in the rain, wind or snow for days. This liberates his work from limitations of structure and charges it with uncertainty about what will be released with them.

In his paintings Matvei Matveev delves into loss of control and erosion. Working across traditional and contemporary mediums, he combines colours and materials that work against each other – building up and removing mark and ground relationships. In this destructive and additive process carries he looks for a moment of contamination where tension between liquid shapes, contrasting colours and graphic marks reaches its peak and begins to ‘radiate’.



Matvei Matveev is a Russian-German Artist living and working between London, Berlin and Riga. He is currently pursuing an MA in Painting at the Royal College of Art.